Transformative Mitigation Actions as an Outcome of the Global Stocktake

The Global Stocktake (GST) is a central element of the Paris Climate Agreement. Every five years, parties to the Agreement draw up a balance sheet on their joint progress. At the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Conference of the parties, COP28) in Dubai, the first GST will conclude. The political assessment of this first Stocktake is likely to become the most important outcome of this COP, as it will set the framework for the next round of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that parties will have to submit in 2025.

A report by the German Environment Agency written by Lorenz Moosmann (Öko-Institut), Louise Jeffery (NewClimate Institute), and Wolfgang Obergassel (Co-Head of the Research Unit Global Climate Governance at the Wuppertal Institute) argues that, to achieve the intended impact of the GST, it will be key for parties to the Paris Agreement to agree on messages on increasing ambition which are as specific as possible. In the area of mitigation, these messages should be concise and name specific actions and targets in order to inform Parties in updating and enhancing their NDCs as best as possible. The report proposes eleven key mitigation actions, using recent literature on mitigation actions and key messages in decisions by earlier climate conferences as a starting point. These actions cover renewable energy, energy efficiency and sufficiency, the phasing out of fossil fuels and related subsidies, actions in transport, buildings and industry, circular material flows, the reduction of methane emissions, actions in the land sector and sustainable food systems.

The proposed mitigation actions and targets could be included in the Global Stocktake outputs, and they should address both the time horizon until 2030 and the time horizon until 2035 for new NDCs. The paper also addresses the steps to be taken by Parties after the conclusion of the Global Stocktake to turn its outputs into concrete action.

The report was written as part of the project "GST-Monitor – Technical and Political Monitoring of the First Global Stocktake" on behalf of the German Environment Agency.