UN Climate Change: Taking Stock of Global Efforts to Implement the Paris Agreement

In Bonn next month, government delegates, observers and various experts will gather to begin taking stock of where the world stands when it comes to implementing the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

This will happen at a technical dialogue during this year’s Bonn Climate Change Conference (6-16 June). The dialogue is a key component of this first, two-year global stocktake process to assess collective progress towards achieving the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Achieving this goal is essential to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, which include ever more frequent extreme events such as storms, droughts and heatwaves.

The dialogue runs from 9 to 14 June and will feature open and frank conversations among government delegates, various experts and other key stakeholders.

The first global stocktake is unfolding in a critical decade for climate action. Global emissions need to be halved by 2030 for the world to stand a chance of achieving the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal. The world is presently far off course in its efforts to achieve this objective.

The stocktake will therefore focus on ways to bridge any gaps in order to increase ambition and action on climate change.

It will end two years before countries are due to submit their updated national climate plans (formally known as Nationally Determined Contributions) in 2024-25 and is designed to help spur countries to step up climate action to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.



In an information note published ahead of the Bonn Climate Change Conference, the two co-facilitators of the technical dialogue Farhan Akhtar and Harald Winkler wrote:

“We intend to focus the dialogue on how gaps in implementation of the Paris Agreement can be bridged (…) While differences in perspectives will be unavoidable, we should aim to build a shared understanding on opportunities to address these gaps.”

The information note provides an initial analysis of submissions to date, as well as details about the first meeting of the technical dialogue next month.

Also, ahead of the Bonn Climate Change Conference and of the technical dialogue, UN Climate Change has published four synthesis reports on the themes of the global stocktake that will help serve as a basis for various roundtable discussions:

A report focusing on the state of greenhouse gas emissions and efforts by national governments to cut emissions.
A report on the overall effect of national governments’ nationally determined contributions and progress made on implementing these plans.
A report on the state of efforts to adapt to climate change.
A report on support relating to finance, technology and capacity-building.
The dialogue is open to all registered participants attending the Bonn Climate Change Conference.