Call for Concrete Sectoral Decarbonisation Roadmaps

The first Global Stocktake (GST) is due to conclude at the next United Nations climate conference in the United Arab Emirates at the end of 2023. The main goal of this process is to feed into a new round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by the Parties to the Paris Agreement for 2035. In addition, the GST aims at identifying opportunities for strengthening international cooperation to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. The NDC ASPECTS project provides inputs for the GST and for the revision of existing as well as the development of new NDCs. In this context, the researchers are particularly addressing the sectors buildings, energy-intensive industries, land transport as well as agriculture, forestry, and other land uses.

A new opinion article titled "Leveraging the Global Stocktake for effective sectoral climate governance" from a team of NDC ASPECTS partners, led by Harro van Asselt from the University of Eastern Finland, has been published in the PLOS Climate journal. The authors suggest leveraging the GST for promoting effective sectoral climate governance: concrete measures should be taken in the sectors to combat climate change and promote sustainable development. Wuppertal Institute researchers Wolfgang Obergassel, Co-Head of the Global Climate Governance Research Unit, Dr. Lukas Hermwille, Senior Researcher in the same research unit, and Dr. Chun Xia Bauer, Senior Researcher in the Energy Policy Research Unit, contributed to the article as co-authors.

"Sectoral systems differ substantially in their political economies, technologies, financing structures, industrial composition, and international connectedness. Taking these differences into account will help tailor international cooperation to make it more effective," Obergassel explains. In the article the researchers outline how the GST can help advance sectoral international cooperation, both within the intergovernmental process under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and in terms of action that can be taken beyond the UNFCCC process.

According to the researchers, the Parties to the Paris Agreement should use the GST to plant the seeds for the development of concrete sectoral decarbonisation roadmaps that can guide international cooperation in the years to come.

The article "Leveraging the Global Stocktake for effective sectoral climate governance" is published in English in the open access journal PLOS Climate and can be accessed via the link below.