COP28: What we need to know about the first global stocktake

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is an annual meeting where UN member states convene to make a plan to address climate crisis. This year's meeting - COP28, which is set to begin November 30 in the United Arab Emirates - will include a discussion of the first-ever global stocktake.

The global stocktake is an assessment of progress made toward mitigating global warming since the Paris Agreement in 2015. It evaluates the world's progress on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, building resilience to extreme weathers, and securing finance and support to address climate crisis. 

It is a two-year process scheduled to happen every five years. The first global stocktake got under way in 2022 and will conclude at COP28, marking a turning point for global climate action. ­

Why is the global stocktake important?

The key findings of the global stocktake, released in a synthesis report in September, lay bare just how far the world is from achieving the Paris Agreement's goals and emphasize the closing window of opportunity. 

The report states that man-released greenhouse gases have "unequivocally" caused global warming, with global surface temperature reaching 1.1 degrees Celsius above 1850-1900 in 2011-2020. 

It also shows that the adaptation gaps exist, and will continue to grow at current rates of implementation, although there is progress made.

This assessment should then guide countries to set new, more ambitious climate policies and targets for slashing carbon emissions and achieving energy transition, to get closer to the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal.

What is expected in COP28?

In the first week of COP28, high-level stocktake events will be held, which marks the political phase of the global stocktake.

"While the synthesis report shows which implementation gaps exist for achieving the Paris Agreement, it is still unclear what political consequences the results will have," said Martin Voss, policy advisor for Climate Diplomacy and Cooperation at a NGO named Germanwatch.

He said the key political conclusions will be drawn at COP28. "The global stocktake should lead to more ambitious targets and concrete measures in the next round of National Determined Contributions (NDCs) formulation following this COP," he said.

The next NDCs will be submitted by countries in 2025 with ambitious 2030 climate targets in implementing domestic measures to close adaptation and mitigation gaps and reach net-zero CO2 emissions.

Voss also said that the impact of the global stocktake in the coming years "will be significantly influenced by how ambitious the core political statements are and how bindingly they are formalized."

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