Research Article
Open Access
From Commitment to Implementation: Reframing Climate Action through Policy Coherence, Green Finance and Multilevel Governance in Nepal
Abstract
Climate change has become a major constraint on sustainable development in Nepal, where climatic hazards interact with socioeconomic vulnerability, infrastructure deficits, fiscal constraints, and uneven institutional capacity. Nepal has progressively strengthened its climate-policy architecture through the National Climate Change Policy, successive Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the National Adaptation Plan, the Sixteenth Plan, and the revised Climate Change Financial Blueprint. Nepal's NDC 3.0, covering the period to 2035, further expands the country's mitigation and adaptation ambition and places greater emphasis on implementation, finance, institutional coordination, and mainstreaming climate action across levels of government. Nevertheless, the existence of increasingly comprehensive policies does not necessarily translate into measurable climate-development outcomes.
This study examines Nepal's climate action through an integrated analytical framework linking policy coherence, climate and green finance, institutional transformation, multilevel governance, and SDG localization. The study employs a qualitative documentary research design based on systematic analysis of government policies and plans, climate-finance and budgetary documents, international institutional reports, and relevant peer-reviewed literature. The analysis focuses on the extent to which climate commitments are translated into financing arrangements, institutional responsibilities, subnational implementation mechanisms, and outcome-oriented monitoring. The documentary evidence indicates that Nepal's principal challenge has increasingly shifted from a policy-formation deficit to an implementation-coherence deficit. Policy integration has improved, but fragmentation across sectors and levels of government, limited project-preparation capacity, uneven access to climate finance, institutional capacity constraints, and weak outcome-based monitoring continue to restrict implementation effectiveness. The study therefore distinguishes between administrative localization, in which responsibilities are devolved, and functional localization, in which local institutions possess the authority, finance, technical capacity, information, and accountability mechanisms needed to deliver climate outcomes.
Based on these findings, the study proposes an Integrated Climate Action Acceleration Framework for Nepal (ICAAF-Nepal) consisting of five mutually reinforcing pillars: policy coherence, green and climate-finance mobilization, institutional transformation, localized and community-centred implementation, and evidence-based monitoring and accountability. The study argues that climate finance should be understood not simply as a resource-volume issue but as an institutional system connecting capital mobilization with project preparation, implementation, risk management, and measurable outcomes. The framework contributes to climate-governance scholarship by explaining climate-action effectiveness as a problem of implementation coherence rather than policy adequacy alone. It also provides a policy-oriented pathway for linking Nepal's climate commitments with resilient, inclusive, and low-carbon sustainable development.
Keywords
climate governance; policy coherence; climate finance; green finance; multilevel governance; SDG localization; Nepal; sustainable development
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Biesbroek, G. R., Swart, R. J., Carter, T. R., Cowan, C., Henrichs, T., Mela, H., Morecroft, M. D., & Rey, D. (2010). Europe adapts to climate change: Comparing national adaptation strategies. Global Environmental Change, 20(3), 440–450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.03.005
Biermann, F., Betsill, M. M., Gupta, J., Kanie, N., Lebel, L., Liverman, D., Schroeder, H., Siebenhüner, B., & Zondervan, R. (2010). Earth system governance: A research framework. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 10(4), 277–298. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-010-9137-3
Bulkeley, H., & Betsill, M. M. (2005). Rethinking sustainable cities: Multilevel governance and the ‘urban’ politics of climate change. Environmental Politics, 14(1), 42–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/0964401042000310178
Chaudhary, N. (2025). Challenges and opportunities in green financing within Nepal's financial sector. Tribhuvan University Law Journal, 1(1), 147–169.
Dzebo, A., Shawoo, Z., & Browne, K. (2025). Does policy coherence make national implementation of global sustainability agendas more successful? Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 50, 539–562. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-111523-102337
Gentle, P., Bhatta, R., Lama, S., Mainaly, J., & Maraseni, T. (2026). Assessing subnational governments’ role in climate action: Federalism and governance challenges in Nepal. Regional & Federal Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2026.2663311
Government of Nepal. (2019). National climate change policy 2019. Ministry of Forests and Environment.
Government of Nepal. (2020). Second nationally determined contribution. Ministry of Forests and Environment.
Government of Nepal. (2021a). National adaptation plan 2021–2050. Ministry of Forests and Environment.
Government of Nepal. (2021b). Nepal’s long-term strategy for net-zero emissions. Ministry of Forests and Environment.
Government of Nepal. (2021c). Third national communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Ministry of Forests and Environment.
Government of Nepal. (2025). Nepal’s third nationally determined contribution (NDC 3.0). Ministry of Forests and Environment.
Government of Nepal, Ministry of Finance. (2018). Climate change financing framework: A roadmap to systematically strengthen climate change mainstreaming into planning and budgeting.
Gupta, J., & van der Grijp, N. (Eds.). (2014). Mainstreaming climate change in development cooperation: Theory, practice and implications. Cambridge University Press.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2022). Climate change 2022: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009325844
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2023). Climate change 2023: Synthesis report. IPCC. https://doi.org/10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647
Jordan, A., & Lenschow, A. (2010). Environmental policy integration: A state of the art review. Environmental Policy and Governance, 20(3), 147–158. https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.539
Ministry of Finance. (2024). Climate change financial blueprint: Revised edition 2024. Government of Nepal.
Ministry of Finance. (2025). Economic survey 2024/25. Government of Nepal.
National Planning Commission. (2024). The Sixteenth Plan (fiscal year 2024/25–2028/29). Government of Nepal.
National Planning Commission. (2025). Sixteenth Plan (2024/25–2028/29) and green and climate-friendly development. Government of Nepal.
Nilsson, M., Zamparutti, T., Petersen, J. E., Nykvist, B., Rudberg, P., & McGuinn, J. (2012). Understanding policy coherence: Analytical framework and examples of sector–environment policy interactions. Environmental Policy and Governance, 22(6), 395–423. https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.1589
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2019). Policy coherence for sustainable development 2019: Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/a90f851f-en
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2021). OECD DAC declaration on a new approach to aligning development co-operation with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change. OECD/LEGAL/0466.
Ostrom, E. (2010). Polycentric systems for coping with collective action and global environmental change. Global Environmental Change, 20(4), 550–557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.07.004
Persson, Å., Weitz, N., & Nilsson, M. (2016). Follow-up and review of the Sustainable Development Goals: Alignment vs. internalization. Sustainability, 8(8), Article 785. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8080785
Rawal, S. B. (2024). Climate change finance in Nepal: A review from policy framework and practice. Journal of Sustainability and Environmental Management, 3(2), 121–128. https://doi.org/10.3126/josem.v3i2.71921
Rogelj, J., Shindell, D., Jiang, K., Fifita, S., Forster, P., Ginzburg, V., Handa, C., Kheshgi, H., Kobayashi, S., Kriegler, E., Mundaca, L., Séférian, R., & Vilariño, M. V. (2018). Mitigation pathways compatible with 1.5°C in the context of sustainable development. In V. Masson-Delmotte et al. (Eds.), Global warming of 1.5°C. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157940.004
Steurer, R. (2007). From government strategies to strategic public management: An exploratory outlook on the pursuit of policy integration. European Environment, 17(3), 201–214. https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.452
United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. United Nations.
United Nations Development Programme. (2025). Using public financial management to implement NDCs and NAPs. UNDP.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (2015). Paris Agreement. United Nations.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (2023). Nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement: Synthesis report. UNFCCC.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (2025). 2025 NDC synthesis report. UNFCCC.
van den Bergh, J. C. J. M., & Botzen, W. J. W. (2015). Monetary valuation of the social cost of CO₂ emissions: A critical survey. Ecological Economics, 114, 33–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.03.015
Weitz, N., Carlsen, H., Nilsson, M., & Skånberg, K. (2018). Towards systemic and contextual priority setting for implementing the 2030 Agenda. Sustainability Science, 13, 531–548. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0470-0
World Bank. (2022). Nepal country climate and development report: Towards a greener, more resilient, and inclusive development. World Bank.
World Bank. (2024). Green, resilient, and inclusive development in Nepal. World Bank.
Young, O. R. (2017). Governing complex systems: Social capital for the Anthropocene. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262035934.001.0001