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What is the UN’s Global Stocktake? How will it drive climate action?

2023-09-08 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-世界原网页

SINGAPORE - The United Nations on Friday will release what amounts to reviewing global efforts to tackle climate change.

Called the Global Stocktake, it is the result of two years of assessing how far off course Mankind is in reducing the risks from climate change. But far from just another gloomy report, it will also offer suggestions on positive steps to tackle the problem.

“It’s a moment to take a long, hard look at the state of our planet and chart a better course for the future,” said the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is overseeing the assessment.

This guidance will be crucial for governments as they meet to discuss how to ramp up global climate action at the UN’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai at the end of the year. The stocktake is a vital part of COP28.

Following is a look at the stocktake and why it matters.

What is the Global Stocktake?

It is a periodic assessment of global climate action and is mandated under the 2015 UN Paris climate agreement.

This is the first Global Stocktake since the Paris pact was adopted and is a key part in the agreement’s design in which nations progressively ratchet up the ambition of their national climate plans every five years.

The stocktake is meant to inform nations on how ambitious their updated climate plans should be. It is also meant to guide nations in stepping up financial support for climate action and international cooperation.

Under the Paris Agreement, the next round of updated national climate plans, (known as “nationally determined contributions,” or NDCs) is due in 2025.

Conducting the Global Stocktake every five years is meant to ensure that countries and companies are increasingly ambitious with their actions to keep the Paris Agreement’s goals in reach.

What is the process?

Under the Paris Agreement, the key goals include cutting greenhouse gas emissions to limit temperature rise to well below 2 deg C and ideally aim for 1.5 deg C; building resilience to climate impacts; and aligning financial support with the scale and scope needed to tackle the climate crisis.

During the past two years, the UNFCCC has worked with the UN’s climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to craft the assessment using the latest scientific findings. Input has also come from other UN agencies, governments, international bodies such as the International Energy Agency and non-government organisations.

With the release of the draft on Friday, a political process begins in which governments will then consider the findings, which have been refined after a series of technical reviews.

The draft is expected to reveal just how far off the world is from achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and provide concrete guidance on actions – including opportunities – needed to close these gaps, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI), a Washington-based think tank.

Apart from cutting emissions, the assessment will also measure progress in countries’ abilities to enhance their resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate impacts. And it will look at what is called “means of implementation”, that is, steps to accelerate climate action, such as finance for poorer nations, technology transfer and support to developing nations to address the climate crisis.