Tunisia Aims to Reduce Carbon Intensity by 46.4% by 2030 and 62% by 2035
Tunisia has set ambitious targets to reduce its carbon intensity by 46.4% by 2030 and 62% by 2035, compared to the reference year 2010. These new objectives are outlined in the third version of the country's "Contribution Determined at the National Level" (CDN 3.0), presented last week to various stakeholders in the climate action sector.
This new roadmap, submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat in September 2025, builds on Tunisia's previous commitments made in 2015 and 2021. The CDN 3.0 marks a crucial step towards accelerating the decarbonization of Tunisia's economy, aligning the country with the carbon neutrality trajectory by 2050, and enhancing its resilience to climate-related disruptions.
The new targets reflect the government's commitment to implementing an ambitious, transparent, just, and inclusive climate policy. Tunisia had previously committed to reducing its carbon intensity by 41% in 2015, with the goal revised upwards to 45% by 2030 in the 2021 update.
Significant Increase in Climate Ambition
The new targets demonstrate a significant increase in national climate ambition. The report highlights an increase in unconditional objectives (funded by the state's own resources) in the overall effort to reduce carbon intensity, from 27% in 2030 to 31% in 2035.
For the first time, the third version of the CDN also foresees a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), estimated at 34% in 2035 compared to 2010. According to the official document, this orientation confirms Tunisia's commitment to strengthening its climate ambition and achieving a durable and absolute decoupling between economic growth and GHG emissions.
In this context, GHG emissions per capita are expected to drop to 1.77 tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2035, compared to 2.55 tonnes in 2010, representing a global decrease of 31%.
Energy Transition: A Need for $25 Billion in Financing
The increase in mitigation targets relies primarily on accelerating the energy transition, through the reinforcement of energy efficiency policies and the massive deployment of renewable energies for electricity production.
The Tunisian government had adopted an energy strategy in 2023 aiming to increase the share of renewable energies to at least 50% of the national electricity mix by the end of 2035. According to the same source, the implementation of the mitigation component of this CDN 3.0 will require an investment of approximately $25 billion over the 2026-2035 period, representing 47% of the total financial needs of this global climate strategy.
These funds will be allocated to support emission reduction actions in several polluting sectors, including energy, solid and liquid waste management, industrial processes, and activities related to agriculture, forestry, and land use.
The energy sector will capture the lion's share of these investments, representing 87% of the needs of the mitigation component. The energy scenario outlined in this third version relies on accelerating the energy transition and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, particularly through the reinforcement of energy efficiency, the massive expansion of clean energies, and the development of sustainable energy infrastructure.
In this context, GHG emissions from the energy sector are expected to decrease from 30.7 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2010 to 22.6 million tonnes in 2035, representing an estimated decline of approximately 26%.
