Climate policy
Global Stocktake
The Paris Agreement's five-yearly assessment of collective progress toward its long-term goals, established by Article 14 and first concluded at COP28 in 2023.
Definition
The global stocktake is the process under Article 14 of the Paris Agreement by which Parties periodically take stock of the Agreement's implementation to assess collective progress toward its purpose and long-term goals — on mitigation, adaptation, and means of implementation and support. It operates in three phases (information collection and preparation, technical assessment, consideration of outputs), with the first stocktake concluding at COP28 in Dubai in 2023 and further stocktakes every five years thereafter.
References
mandate and cycle
structure and goals assessed
Overview
What it means
The GST is the engine of the Paris Agreement's ambition mechanism: its findings inform each new round of nationally determined contributions, so that commitments ratchet up rather than stand still. The first stocktake found the world off track for 1. 5 °C and produced the UAE Consensus, including the call to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems.
How it is used
Governments align NDC updates and long-term strategies with GST outcomes; the secretariat runs synthesis reports and technical dialogues; and non-Party stakeholders contribute evidence through open submissions.
Why it matters
It is the only standing, collective, science-informed checkpoint in the climate regime — the mechanism that converts global goals into periodic political pressure. **Note:** 1237 (process) and 1238 (technical assessment phase) merge into this entry.
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