Brief

IISD Submission to the Belém Mission to 1.5

This is the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s response to the call for submissions on the Belém Mission to 1.5. It covers action areas and solutions that have the highest impact potential to support the submission, ambition, and implementation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and national adaptation plans (NAPs), and what is required to further strengthen international cooperation to enhance ambition and enable the effective implementation of NDCs and NAPs.

By Natalie Jones, Jeffrey Qi, Paola Andrea Yanguas Parra, Tara Laan, Nhat Do, Annika Plunkett on July 22, 2026

Policy Recommendations

  • Fossil fuel subsidy reform offers a powerful mechanism to implement and raise the ambition of NDCs. Together, stronger subsidy identification and well-designed phase-out plans can help countries raise ambition and improve implementation.

  • Roadmaps for national transitions away from fossil fuels can be used as implementation tools to construct or coordinate and streamline existing domestic plans for meeting NDC and Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy goals in a manner that complements international coordination.

  • National governments can take several actions in relation to energy state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to support the implementation of NDCs, including developing Paris-aligned SOE transition plans with concrete timelines encompassing decarbonization, investment, and diversification.

  • Adaptation efforts so far have typically been incremental, fragmented, and ad hoc. Delivering on the Global Goal on Adaptation requires a shift toward long-term, systemic change, and this depends on effective adaptation planning.

The submission highlights the following action areas and solutions:

  • reforming fossil fuel subsidies,
  • developing national roadmaps for the just, orderly, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels,
  • developing Paris-aligned transition plans for energy SOEs,
  • accelerating and sustaining adaptation planning and implementation, and
  • strengthening coherence and synergies between the implementation of climate, biodiversity, and land actions. 

On reinforcing international cooperation, the submission underscores

  • delivering on the tripling of adaptation finance goal through predictable, long-term, grant-based finance,
  • avoiding duplication and building on existing initiatives and mechanisms for adaptation support,
  • linking to the formal negotiations, and
  • strengthening international cooperation for the transition away from fossil fuels through
    • structured fossil fuel producer-consumer coordination
    • common standards, monitoring, reporting, and verification, and transparency for accountability
    • inclusive, country-driven process design
    • follow-up processes and proactive alignment.