PAPUA New Guinea is calling on international partners to back its climate ambitions with accessible funding and technology, as the country moves to turn its forest protection efforts and emissions reduction targets into measurable results.
Acting Managing Director of the Climate Change and Development Authority, Debra Sungi, made the call during the launch of Papua New Guinea’s third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0), its first Biennial Transparency Report and the REDD+ Technical Annex.
Ms. Sungi said achieving the country’s climate targets would require more than policy commitments, with financial support and cooperation needed across government, the private sector and international development partners.
“We appeal directly to international financial institutions and bilateral partners to merge Papua New Guinea’s unwavering policy ambition with scalable, accessible climate finance and meaningful technology transfer,” she said.
The NDC 3.0 sets out PNG’s climate priorities from 2025 onwards, including a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector by 29 per cent by 2035, compared with 2022 levels.
PNG is also targeting forest and land-use emissions removals of at least 17,000 gigagrams of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030, increasing to at least 18,000 gigagrams by 2035.
Ms. Sungi said the country had already achieved its previous NDC 2.0 target of 10,000 gigagrams of carbon dioxide equivalent in land-use and forestry removals.
She said the next challenge was to sustain that progress while ensuring climate action delivered benefits to local communities, particularly customary landowners and people whose livelihoods depend on forests.
The REDD+ Technical Annex is intended to strengthen the measurement of progress in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, while supporting fair benefit-sharing mechanisms and high-integrity carbon markets.
Ms. Sungi said PNG’s forests remained critical to global climate stability, placing the country in an important position in international efforts to address climate change.
The NDC 3.0 also introduces loss and damage as a formal component of the country’s climate commitments for the first time, opening the way for a dedicated policy framework and efforts to access international loss and damage funding.
Other priorities include climate-resilient agriculture, infrastructure and transport, as well as strengthening the health sector’s response to climate-sensitive diseases.
Meanwhile, the first Biennial Transparency Report is expected to improve the tracking and reporting of national greenhouse gas emissions and progress towards climate targets.
Ms. Sungi said transparent reporting was essential to building international confidence, attracting climate finance and encouraging private-sector investment.
She warned that PNG continued to face serious climate threats, including coastal erosion and the impacts of El Niño, making coordinated action increasingly important.
The three documents were launched together as part of PNG’s efforts to strengthen climate accountability, protect its forests and translate national commitments into practical action.