In this paper, BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany) shares experiences gained in the context of the ongoing project: “Strengthening civil society in the implementation of national climate policy”, which is supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). As observed throughout the project in Colombia, Georgia and Ukraine, the NDC affects a wide range of stakeholders from the local to the national level. This also implies that a large number of needs are affected and must be considered in developing an NDC that considers sectoral and local development priorities.