Why the Global Stocktake?

The GST is a core mechanism of the Paris Agreement, essential to fulfilling its long-term goals on mitigation, adaptation, and finance. It was created to review collective efforts and increase climate action, support, and international cooperation. The three-step GST process of information gathering, technical assessment, and political dialogue necessitates reflection by all stakeholders, across all aspects of climate finance. For example:

• In assessing collective progress toward achieving the Paris Agreement’s finance goals, it will be necessary to directly address the balance between adaptation and mitigation finance and the prioritization of the most vulnerable countries, including the least developed countries and small island developing states. The GST must also speak to the finance needs as articulated by recipient countries as well as the impact of climate finance flows, in addition to its absolute provision.
• The Katowice decisions in 2018 made clear that the GST will also consider collective progress toward making finance flows consistent with low-emission, climate-resilient development, as articulated in Article 2.1(c) of the Paris Agreement. This decision provides an opportunity to unpack progress toward shifting the trillions of dollars needed to underwrite a green transition away from polluting investments and into climate-compatible growth, as well as to examine the  integration of material climate risks into all investment and capital allocation decision-making.
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• The embedding of loss, damage, and equity in the GST will force countries to look at these issues in both the provision and allocation of climate finance.