Global Stocktake

Global Stocktake
Name	Global Stocktake
Type	international process
Established	2015
Related	Paris Agreement, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Global Stocktake

The Global Stocktake is a periodic assessment mechanism under the Paris Agreement designed to evaluate collective progress toward the Agreement's long-term goals, inform national contributions, and guide international cooperation. Born from negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference series, the Stocktake synthesizes inputs from Parties, scientific bodies, and civil sectors to influence national policy cycles, financial mechanisms, and technology transfer deliberations at multilateral fora.

Background and Purpose

The Global Stocktake traces to the Paris Agreement adoption at COP21 in Paris, 2015 and implements Article 14 to review collective progress on mitigation, adaptation, and means of implementation, linking to mechanisms established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and activities under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Its purpose is to provide an evidence-based signal to Parties such as United States, China, India, European Union, Brazil, South Africa, and Australia about ambition gaps and to inform updates to Nationally Determined Contributions and instruments involving the Green Climate Fund, Global Environment Facility, and Climate Investment Funds.

Process and Methodology

The Stocktake follows a multi-step cycle coordinated by the UNFCCC Secretariat and convened at sessions of the Conference of the Parties, including technical dialogues that engage expert inputs from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment reports, data from the International Energy Agency, emissions inventories submitted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change reporting arrangements, and scenario analysis by the International Renewable Energy Agency. Methodology combines synthesis reports prepared by the Secretariat, technical papers from institutions such as the World Meteorological Organization and World Bank, and facilitative dialogues that draw on modelling from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, European Environment Agency, and academic centers like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, and Stanford University.

Participation and Stakeholders

Participation spans Parties to the Paris Agreement and non-Party stakeholders including intergovernmental organizations, subnational entities like C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, private finance actors such as the International Finance Corporation and BlackRock, non-governmental organizations including World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, and 350.org, indigenous groups represented through platforms like the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform, and research institutions including the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Stockholm Environment Institute. Key stakeholders influencing outcomes include ministers from Ministry of Environment (Brazil), delegates from blocs such as the African Group and Alliance of Small Island States, negotiators from Least Developed Countries, and representatives from development banks like the Asian Development Bank and European Investment Bank.

Findings and Outcomes

Stocktake outputs have highlighted persistent gaps between projected emissions pathways and targets implied by the Paris Agreement temperature goal and have catalyzed calls for increased ambition from major emitters including United States, China, India, Russian Federation, and Japan. Outcomes typically include technical synthesis reports by the Secretariat, political conclusions adopted at sessions of the Conference of the Parties, recommendations informing revisions to Nationally Determined Contributions, and mobilization of finance pledges via fora such as the Green Climate Fund replenishment meetings. The process has also generated thematic agendas on energy transition advanced by bodies like International Renewable Energy Agency and technology roadmaps from the Mission Innovation initiative.

Impacts on Global Climate Policy

The Stocktake has influenced public policy instruments including updated Nationally Determined Contributions submitted by Parties like the European Union and Canada, driven investment shifts by institutions such as the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund toward low-carbon lending, and informed rule-making under market mechanisms negotiated in COP26 and COP27. It has also affected diplomatic dynamics among coalitions such as the High Ambition Coalition and the Umbrella Group, shaped negotiations on loss and damage with proponents like the Alliance of Small Island States, and provided authoritative inputs to sovereign policy debates in capitals including Beijing, Washington, D.C., New Delhi, and Brussels.

Criticisms and Challenges

Critiques of the Stocktake emphasize limitations in transparency and perceived politicization by Parties including members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and skeptics in the Visegrád Group, gaps in data quality from national inventories submitted by states such as Ukraine and Indonesia, and the difficulty of translating collective assessment outcomes into binding national measures—an issue flagged by advocacy groups like Friends of the Earth and legal scholars at institutions such as Yale Law School and Harvard Law School. Operational challenges include capacity constraints for least-resourced Parties represented by the Least Developed Countries group, tensions over treatment of carbon markets involving actors like International Emissions Trading Association, and disagreements on the inclusion of non-state actor reporting from corporations like ExxonMobil and BP.

Category:Climate change policy