To put the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement into practice, countries are expected to prepare ‘long-term, low greenhouse gas emission development strategies’ by 2020. These will be visionary plans for achieving low-carbon climate-resilient societies by 2050. While there is general understanding of why countries should formulate these long-term plans, the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have peculiar hurdles to overcome — and exclusive rewards worth pursuing — in preparing their strategies. While highlighting common challenges and concerns, this briefing makes the case for why LDCs in particular should prepare their long-term strategies early. It also discusses incentives to support and rationalise doing so ahead of 2020.