First Global Stocktake Paris Agreement

In 2016, the UNFCCC`s affiliate body for scientific and technological advice (SBSTA) decided that IPCC products would be an important part of the global inventory and that products from the IPCC`s current sixth assessment cycle will make a significant contribution to the world`s first inventory in 2023. The first Global Stocktake will take place in 2023. [5] However, the transparency framework established by the Paris Agreement, which requires each state to report on the progress of the implementation of its national targets and emissions, will not come into force until 2024. Given that the transparency reports of the parties are an important source of information for the completion of the global inventory, the world`s largest inventory must be based on previous reporting obligations. However, they present many information gaps and it is not known to what extent these gaps can be filled by other sources of information. For example, more use can be made of the analyses and recommendations of non-governmental actors, including civil society initiatives, businesses and municipalities. Another aspect that still needs to be developed is the precise date of the three phases of global stocktake. In particular, it is important to ensure that the results of the process are completed in a timely manner and prepared so that they can be properly considered in the development of the parties` CNN. Although each country is required to participate in the global inventory, the exercise does not assess whether the actions taken by a single country are appropriate or not. It will only assess the “collective” efforts of the world.

This is because measures to combat climate change must be “determined at the national level” and that nations find it difficult to be told by others what to do. The inventory will not focus on who should do how much, but rather on what needs to be done. It is generally accepted that the inventory will be carried out taking into account the capital and the best science available. This should not be a surprise – it is indeed written in the Paris Agreement – but the question of how justice is taken into account, in particular, is an issue that dominates the interventions of a number of countries. The lack of a general definition of justice in the context of climate change is a remarkable challenge. This could mean that what a country needs to do (emissions reduction, financial endowment, etc.) depends on its contribution to climate change or its ability to do so. But there are many other ways of looking at it, and parties have very different views of how justice should be applied in the overall inventory. In line with the requirements of developing countries, the inventory will cover not only the results of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also measures to adapt to the effects of climate change. It will also include an assessment of whether developed countries are providing adequate assistance to developing countries by providing money and technology, as stipulated in the Paris Agreement.

The Paris Agreement marked a turning point in international climate policy. These are not only ambitious global targets, such as limiting the increase in global average temperature to a level well below 2oC above pre-industrial levels, but also an innovative architecture that gives contracting parties considerable flexibility to set their own climate change goals. Contrary to the general practice of international environmental law, individual contributions from states are not negotiated at the international level and the achievement of the objectives set is not binding.

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