Global Stocktake Report

• Ahead of the just concluded G-20 summit, the United Nations climate secretariat made public a ‘synthesis report’ to discuss progress achieved by countries in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement of 2015.

Global Stocktake Report:

• Published by the UN climate secretariat.
• It ties into a larger exercise called the ‘global stocktake,’ that is expected to take place once in five years.
• Under the Paris Agreement, the countries committed to keep global temperatures from rising beyond 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century and “as far as possible” below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• They also agreed to periodically review, or take stock of efforts made by individual countries in containing greenhouse gases and transitioning their fossil-fuel dependent energy systems to renewable sources.

Key Recommendations

• Need for government support

  • The Paris Agreement has galvanised countries into setting goals and signalling the urgency of the climate crisis.
  • Governments need to support ways to transition their economies away from fossil fuel businesses and that states and communities must strengthen efforts.
  • While rapid change could be disruptive, countries should work on ensuring that the economic transition be equitable and inclusive.

• More ambitions needed to achieve the net zero target by 20250

  • The report stated that much more ambition was needed to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030 and further by 60% in 2035 and reach net zero CO2 emissions by 2050 globally.

• More actions required

  • Renewable energy has to be scaled up and all unabated fossil fuels (for example, coal plants without carbon capture and storage mechanisms) were to be rapidly eliminated.
  • Deforestation and land-degradation have to be halted and reversed and agricultural practices critical to reducing emissions and conserving and enhancing carbon sinks have to be encouraged.

• Lacunas in current effort

  • The world, as a whole, has committed to scale up steps to help adapt to the unfolding and future impacts of climate change.
  • However, most efforts were “fragmented, incremental, sector-specific and unequally distributed across regions.”
  • Transparent reporting on adaptation could facilitate and enhance understanding, implementation and international cooperation.

• Addressing loss and damage

  • Averting, minimising and addressing ‘loss and damage,’ requires urgent action across climate and development policies to manage risks comprehensively and provide support to impacted communities.
    • Loss and damage is a term used in United Nations climate negotiations to describe the negative consequences of climate change that are beyond what countries can adapt to.
  • Support for adaptation and funding arrangements for averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage, from the impact of climate change, needed to be rapidly scaled up from expanded and innovative sources.

• On the issue of funds

  • Financial flows needed to be made consistent with climate-resilient development to meet urgent and increasing needs.
  • Access to climate finance in developing countries needed to be enhanced.
  • It is essential to unlock and redeploy trillions of dollars to meet global investment needs, including by rapidly shifting finance flows globally to support a pathway towards low GHG emissions and climate-resilient development.

Global Stocktake Report and G20’s New Delhi Declaration

• While the report is expected to set the template for the forthcoming conference, it did resonate in the G20 New Delhi Declaration— said to be among the most significant outcomes of the summit.
• This document for the first time formally recognises the massive jump in finance necessary for the world to transition to a renewable energy economy.
• The Declaration noted the need for USD 5.8-5.9 trillion in the pre-2030 period required for developing countries as well as USD 4 trillion per year for clean energy technologies by 2030 to reach net zero by 2050.