What is meant by Global Stocktake?

Over 200 countries are being a part of this year's COP28 Summit held in Dubai. The notable dignitaries attending the climate summit include journalists, scientists, business leaders, climate experts, and indigenous peoples. The COP28 summit started on November 30 and will continue till December 12.

Participating nations at the summit will look into the progress they have succeeded in hitting in combating global warming. This process is officially termed "Global Stocktake". It is the first time this Global Stocktake has taken place since the Paris Agreement in the year 2015.

The results of this examination will dictate the measures that must be taken in the coming years with regard to curating more robust national policies and establishing ambitious goals. The results will determine the need to make the vulnerable nations more financially able to shift to green, clean energy. the United Nations Climate Change (UNCC) expresses that “It’s a moment to take a long, hard look at the state of our planet and chart a better course for the future”.

The Paris Agreement and the Five-Year Plan

It is not the first time that the world has come together to discuss climate issues at the global level, check progress, and resolve to take action. In the year 2005, the Kyoto Protocol aimed a similar objective, However, the Kyoto Protocol involved only the developed nations of the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

However, the COP21 summit held in Paris in the year 2015 was exceptionally different in this regard, as it brought together all the nations to deal with the climate crisis. What makes the COP21 summit special is the fact that all the nations irrespective of their development status came together to talk about the global concern of climate crisis.

The Paris Agreement thus signed bound all the nations to establish emissions-reduction targets and adapt to the climate change impacts. This is called a Nationally Determined Contributions.

The Paris Agreement made it a mandate for all countries to evaluate their progress every five years, starting from 2023.

The first Global Stocktake report

A technical report of the very first Global stocktake was published by the United Nations in September 2023. The report suggested that the global community has been successful in making some progress, but the progress is quite less.

A statement by the UNCC expresses that the report indicates some progress, but there is still a lot that is required to be done. Sure, there exist well-known gaps. However, the technical findings in the report showcase existing and evolving opportunities and solutions that can prove to be helpful in bridging these gaps.