UN: COP28 global stocktake will determine progress of climate action

Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), says the global stocktake scheduled for this year’s climate conference – COP28 – will determine the progress of climate action. 

He said this on Monday at the opening of the ongoing Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The global stocktake is a provision under the Paris Agreement for a periodic review of how well global efforts are doing in achieving the purpose of the treaty.

The first stocktake got underway at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) and will conclude at this year’s COP28 in UAE. Each stocktake is a two-year process that happens every five years.

In his speech, Stiell said the world’s first global stocktake is “a moment of truth”, that should tell the world where it is and where it needs to go.

“Since 2015, we have known that COP28 was going to be a momentous one. The world’s first global stocktake is a moment of truth. It must tell us where we are, where we need to go, and how we’ll get there,” he said.

“This is not just another synthesis report, this is a moment in history. I want the history books to read: ‘2023 was the year the world stopped dithering and the paradigm shift happened’.

“The Global Stock Take (GST) must be a tool which gives us a roadmap. One which can guide us sector by sector, region by region, actor by actor on what surgical interventions must take place to align ourselves with a resilient 1.5 degree Celsius world.

‘It must speak to where further action is required in a practical, useable way. We are far enough from the COP that I can ask you to attempt a new challenge this year.

“Before you put on negotiating hats, whether that be for a government, company or institution, spend some time being philosophical.

“What does the World really need? How can we present what it needs in a practical and useable form? The GST won’t deliver simply because it’s a date on the calendar — a technical obligation — but because we choose to rise to the challenge of the great opportunity for accelerated action it offers.

‘My challenge to everyone in this room is to envision the most ambitious, political outcome we need to see for the GST. How can we use the GST as a global reset to course correct?

“I don’t want to hear ‘what’s the bare minimum we need to do.’ This is a unique opportunity. COP28 will also bring home crucial work on several long-awaited deliverables as well – achieving a global goal on adaptation, hammering out the details of the loss and damage finance facility, driving towards a global goal on finance, accelerating both an energy and a just transition, closing the massive emissions gap and work in many other areas.”