The Paris Agreement has established global targets for the international community to maintain global temperature rise to well-below 2°C above pre-industrial levels with an ambitious limit of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The ‘global stock-take’ under Article 14 of the Paris Agreement reflects the fundamental purposes of the Paris Agreement by addressing “Who does how much” by making pledge, review, and reform actions to achieve the target. Global stock-take requires all countries to communicate their nationally determined commitments (NDCs), and calculating collective progress towards the commitments of the agreement and make ambitious actions for long-term global goals. The assessment shall be in a comprehensive and facilitative manner, concerning the long-term global goals of mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation and support.
The global stock-take structure will have a preparatory phase (information gathering and compilation) a technical phase, (consider inputs, take stock of progress), and a political phase (consideration of outputs review). Global stock-take will be guided by the example of Talanoa Dialogue, on the core questions of: Where we are, where we want to go, and how to get there?
The first global stock-take will begin from 2023 onwards and every five years thereafter to assess the developments. However, in 2018 the facilitator dialogue will enable the countries to reflect on progress, and proceed with options of future action plans. Further, global stock-take will be assessed through national reports, reports of UNFCCC subsidiary bodies and scientific inputs within the scope of mitigation adaptation and finance with the instruments of technology, finance, and capacity building. The outcomes of the global stock-take will provide information and identify gaps in collective progress of the countries, lessons learned, and potential opportunities to “update and enhance” further actions to fill the gaps with best practices and possible measures. Also, it will enhance international cooperation with sources of inputs, developing modalities and outcomes of global stock-take.
The scope of global stock-take is broader with the aim to achieve the targets with common but differentiated responsibilities of the countries for achieving low carbon emission and climate resilient development. Also, giving full consideration to loss and damage, response measures and economic diversification. The locally determined strategies of each country will have specific goals and actions, which will require a systematic approach to monitor, evaluate, and review the adaptation, and progress of countries within the parameters of NDC towards the global goal. Global stock-take will require recognizing global peak points. And common guidelines will be crucial to estimate the various mitigation commitments, as the evaluation will have direct implications on the modality of stock-take, particularly in identifying the range of inputs needed in the future.
Ambalika Singh is a visiting researcher at ICCCAD and has previously worked at the Wildlife Institute of India.
