The NECP tracker, firstly developed by the LIFE Unify project (2019-2022), expanded by the LIFE TogetherFor1.5 project (2022-2025), and now further improved as part of the LIFE Plan4Climate project (2025-2028), is an online tool that provides a visual representation of the ambition and implementation of NECPs, based on a selection of climate (greenhouse gas emissions), energy and social indicators.
The NECP tracker has a double function: on the one hand, it assesses the ambition of the latest available NECPs, by comparing them with EU 2030 climate targets and energy benchmarks (and the older NECPs, dated 2019). On the other hand, it monitors whether national governments are implementing their NECPs as planned, by comparing them with historical data (from EEA and Eurostat). It currently covers 17 EU Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
➡️ Read the full report here.
➡️ Access the interactive NECP tracker 2026 update here.
This briefing, developed under the LIFE Plan4Climate project and based on the 2026 update of the tracker, focuses on the implementation of NECPs. The update features historical data up to 2024, which allows for a comparison directly against the updated NECPs’ scenarios, based on existing and planned policies and measures (rather than against the outdated 2019 plans). In other words, the tracker now shows, with greater precision, whether Member States are catching up with the latest ambition levels they themselves expected to achieve.
The 2026 update also introduces a new set of socio-economic indicators, covering energy poverty and fossil fuel subsidies. These are two of the clearest markers of whether Europe’s climate and energy planning is actually rooted in social justice, to ensure that no one is left behind in the transition. For energy poverty, the tracker monitors two of the most solid proxies, also used by Eurostat and the EU Energy Poverty Advisory Hub (EPAH): arrears on utility bills and the inability to keep homes adequately warm. For fossil fuels subsidies, it draws on OECD data as historical reference. By tracking these dimensions alongside GHG emissions and energy indicators, the NECP tracker can highlight gaps, inconsistencies between NECPs and other national or international monitoring frameworks, and show whether Member States are addressing the social dimension of decarbonisation as a strategic priority, rather than treating it as a bureaucratic afterthought to their NECPs.
This briefing illustrates the main findings coming out of this year’s update of the NECP tracker, based on historical data for 2024. Each section also includes a set of recommendations for the upcoming post-2030 legislative process.
Key findings include:
- In 2024, gross emissions in several Member States did not decline in line with expected national scenarios. Also, the constant evolution of LULUCF data underlines the need to keep gross emissions and removals as separate targets in the post-2030 framework.
- In 2025, ETS emissions are falling faster than expected in most countries — confirming that the system is working and should not be weakened after 2030.
- In 2024, GHG emissions in effort-sharing sectors were not falling fast enough — underlining the need to strengthen policy efforts for decarbonisation in these sectors and ensure they are adequately supported by the next EU Budget.
- In 2024, renewables and energy savings were not advancing fast enough. The post-2030 framework must include binding and ambitious targets and introduce stronger compliance mechanisms for both.
- NECPs lack both targets and monitoring tools for fossil subsidies and social indicators, such as energy poverty. The revision of the Governance Regulation should address these gaps.
➡️ Read the full report here.
➡️ Access the interactive NECP tracker 2026 update here.