The Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group is a negotiating group within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Group is made up of 45 countries across Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Caribbean, with a joint population of more than one billion people.
Incredibly vulnerable to environmental and economic shocks, and disproportionately affected by the climate crisis despite bearing the least responsibility for it, the LDCs negotiate as a bloc at UN climate talks to advance their shared interest of a fair and ambitious global response to climate change.
Evans Njewa, the head of climate change and UNFCCC focal point for the Government of Malawi, is the current Chair of the LDC Group (January 2024 - December 2025).
The LDC Group’s Vision and Initiatives
The LDC Group has launched three initiatives, including LIFE-AR.
The LDC Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Initiative for Sustainable Development (LDC REEEI) is a strategic framework for driving transformative change, to harness the renewable energy potential across LDCs and promote energy efficiency.
The Least Developed Countries Universities Consortium on ClimateChange (LUCCC) is a consortium of universities across LDCs. It aims to enhance knowledge on climate change, particularly on adaptation measures, through a network of south-south capacity building, including shared research projects and training programmes.
At the UN Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit in New York in September 2019, the LDC Group launched their LDC Group Vision towards a climate-resilient future:
Our Vision is for all Least Developed Countries to be on climate-resilient development pathways by 2030 and deliver net-zero emissions by 2050 to ensure our societies and ecosystems thrive.
The LDC Group’s links with and commitment to LIFE-AR
LIFE-AR was launched by the LDC Group in 2018. Gebru Jember Endalew, who was the Chair of the LDC Group at that time, continues to serve as LIFE-AR’s Technical Lead.
Through annual Ministerial Declarations of the LDC Group since 2018, ministers from LDCs have welcomed the initiative and [committed to] advancing it, and called for further support from the international community to accelerate its implementation.
The current Chair of the LDC Group, who rotates every two years, is also the Chair of the Board of LIFE-AR.
