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After a decade of providing critical information on real-world climate action, the UN Climate Change Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action (NAZCA) portal is entering a new chapter of ambition and innovation.
At COP30 in Belém, UN Climate Change unveiled the NAZCA Portal Redevelopment and Engagement Roadmap to develop a modern, data-driven platform that strengthens the role of the UNFCCC secretariat as the custodian and central repository of credible climate action data from non-party stakeholders (NPS). The redeveloped NAZCA portal will consolidate NPS information related to mitigation, adaptation and resilience, and means of implementation.
Background
Launched at COP20 in Lima, Peru, and named after the country’s iconic Nazca lines, the NAZCA portal was created to showcase climate action commitments from non-Party stakeholders and Cooperative Climate Initiatives. At COP21 in Paris, Parties formally recognised the portal, acknowledging its critical role in enhancing transparency, tracking progress, and recognising leadership across states, regions, cities, businesses, and civil society.
Since then, the portal has been expanded to include commitments, inventories, climate plans, and concrete actions, while also showcasing progress towards disclosed targets. Today, it stands at the threshold for its next phase: a strengthened, modernised user-experience, synced with the new UNFCCC Climate Data Hub, and designed to elevate transparency, ambition, and implementation of the Paris Agreement.
A new era of implementation
The roadmap presented at COP30 outlines the purpose of the redevelopment: to inform stakeholders, invite feedback, and advance a near-term vision that positions the NAZCA portal as the authoritative transparency hub for non-Party climate action. While several redevelopment elements are already underway, others remain in an exploratory phase.
At the COP30 event, UN Climate Change Transparency Manager, Vlad Trusca, highlighted that the portal’s modernised digital architecture within the UNFCCC secretariat will update its technological foundations, improve user experience, expand data accessibility, and introduce new stakeholder engagement tools – reflecting a holistic and inclusive vision for non-Party stakeholder climate action.
The roadmap also illustrates the evolution of the NAZCA portal into a comprehensive ecosystem. Planned enhancements include improved digital tools, regional engagement mechanisms, and powerful new features such as full data downloads, geospatial mapping, and domain-specific AI-driven insights.
Transparency as a foundation of transformation
In a keynote address at COP30, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, COP21 President and former Minister of the Environment of Peru, reflected on the evolution of climate transparency – from National Communications to Nationally Determined Contributions, and now Biennial Transparency Reports – highlighting how these tools have shaped trust and awareness, particularly in the Global South.
He noted that climate governance has increasingly shifted from negotiation-driven processes towards pathways of economic transformation, with transparency mechanisms serving as crucial enablers in that transition.
Recalling its origins, Pulgar-Vidal emphasised that the NAZCA portal was created to integrate non-state actors into the formal climate space, providing visibility and legitimacy to their climate contributions. Today, he stressed, the NAZCA portal continues to embody the “spirit of Paris,” countering narratives of weaking ambition and reaffirming the importance of voluntary action within the global climate ecosystem.
NAZCA redevelopment and engagement roadmap event at COP30
A central pillar of the NAZCA portal redevelopment is the introduction of the NAZCA Network, an engagement strategy designed to bring climate action information, analysis, and recognition closer to partners. Through workshops, outreach activities, and collaborations, the Network will amplify local efforts, support peer learning, and gather feedback to inform the continuous improvement to the public-facing portal.
Complementing this engagement approach, the modernised NAZCA portal will provide enhanced digital tools, including Entity and Initiative Self-Service systems, upgraded modules for subnational actors, corporations, and cooperative initiatives, as well as country pages that link non-Party stakeholder action with national contexts.
Expert insights from CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project), the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), and the UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centres (RCCs) highlighted the secretariat’s pivotal role in linking data, transparency and implementation through the NAZCA portal.
Clare Everett, Associate Director at CDP, noted that the multi-stakeholder nature of the portal – subnational governments, companies, and investors – provides a baseline not only for ambition, but also for localised climate action.
Vishwas Chitale, Fellow at CEEW, emphasised that showcasing real-world climate action stories in the NAZCA portal is a potentially powerful means for addressing climate risks, sharing experiences, and reaching more people who can benefit from the portal.
Andrea Camponogara, UN Climate Change RCCs’ Team Lead, added that the NAZCA portal serves as a matchmaking platform, making non-state action visible and attracting interest from investors, donors, and development banks.
A decade on, strengthening global climate action
As UN Climate Change advances this strategic redevelopment, the NAZCA portal is reaffirmed as the central repository of credible climate action data from non-Party stakeholders, spanning mitigation, adaptation, resilience, and means of implementation. By aligning with the Climate Data Hub, strengthening stakeholder engagement, and adopting an approach to enhance transparency, the NAZCA portal can help catalyse higher ambition and support implementation across the global climate action agenda.
