By early 2019, 11 parties had reported their LT-LEDS to the UNFCCC. However, the Paris Agreement also agreed on an overall adaptation target, raising the question of how to integrate adaptation targets into LT-LEDS, i.e. they are resistant to climate change. At the same time, a recent UNFCCC document on long-term adaptation planning outlined the role of national adjustment plans as a key instrument for adaptation planning in the coming decades, while maintaining synergies with the Paris goals. This raises a similar question, namely how to ensure that long-term adjustment plans are compatible with emissions reduction. Finally, the question arises as to whether to move to combined, climate-resistant and low-carbon long-term strategies, as mitigation and adaptation relate to a long-term perspective. It will be impossible to avoid the effects of warming of more than 2oC if countries do not take climate considerations into account when responding to them. Because the transformation of economies is a process that takes years, long-term strategies become an important political instrument to achieve this transformation. The vision anchored in the long-term strategy must go beyond political cycles and go beyond the interests of groups and individuals, bringing societies together. In order to ensure that long-term climate strategies are developed in accordance with the rule of law, it may be necessary for countries to adopt or amend legislation and policies, and it is important that the LTS process be put at stake by a country`s legislative branch. This ensures an “entire government approach” that goes beyond planning silos within departments.
At the country level, the Paris Agreement also sets out specific requirements for climate change, adaptation, cooperation, transparency, etc. Two of these requirements are of particular importance in the context of this note: first, an invitation to all parties to communicate long-term strategies for the development of greenhouse gas emissions and, second, the obligation for each party to prepare, communicate and retain successive national contributions (CNN). These two mechanisms reinforce each other: the long-term strategy provides a framework and direction for the following NDPs; At the same time, the increasingly ambitious NDCs are the way to achieve the long-term strategy. The requirement that contracting parties update or re-transmit their NDCs every five years provides the engine that will lead to a gradual increase in ambition and avoid the effects of warming above 2oC. These provisions send a clear signal to countries. While there is some flexibility for governments to define climate change policies based on their priorities and development capabilities, the overall trajectory of emissions would require that all increase their ambitions over time and eventually offset their emissions and distances. In other words, the direction of travel defined by the Paris Agreement foresees a future in which the atmosphere does not see additional greenhouse gas emissions and, therefore, all countries must work in this direction. In this context, long-term strategies are becoming an essential tool in the fight against climate change. Long-term strategies should focus on targets to limit warming to 1.5 to 2 degrees C and achieve zero net emissions in the second half of the century.