The Global Stocktake and International Law Paradigm, Process and Ambition Conference

The Global Stocktake and International Law Paradigm, Process and Ambition

22-23 June 2023, 9am-5 pm

Hybrid: Hogan Lovells Lecture Theatre, Durham Law School & Zoom

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Global Stocktake conference 2023 Programme

About the conference

This conference aims to reconnect academia and decision-makers within the scope of a key process in the architecture of the 2015 Paris Agreement: the global stocktake. 

Article 14, paragraph 1, of the Paris Agreement states that the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties under the Paris Agreement (CMA) shall periodically take stock of the implementation of the Paris Agreement to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the Agreement and its long-term goals, and to identify opportunities for enhanced action and support. The wording suggests that the stocktake has both a backward- looking (“take stock of the implementation” in Article 14.1) and a forward-looking component (in the “updating and enhancing” provision in Article 14.3). The process and the outcome will define how Parties engage with the findings, and how their individual ambition will be informed by the outcomes of the collective exercise. Designed as an ambition enhancing mechanism, the global stocktake will be critical for “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels” (Article 2.1 (a)) Paris Agreement. 

The CMA welcomed the start of the global stocktake at CMA3 in Glasgow, and expressed its determination for the process to be comprehensive, inclusive and consistent with Article 14 and decision 19/CMA.1, in the light of the urgency of enhancing ambition and action in relation to mitigation, adaptation and finance in this critical decade. The global stocktake consists of three main components: the Information collection and preparation, the technical assessment, and the consideration of outputs. COP27 proceeded with the second technical dialogue within the technical assessment component and the final phase of the consideration of outputs is due to be finalised at CMA5 in Dubai. 

In Sharm El-Sheikh, at COP27 and CMA4, an increasing and tangible disconnect between academia and negotiators was noted. At the same time, the global stocktake is especially designed to receive inputs from non-Parties and the relevant decisions of Parties stress the importance of engagement with all stakeholders. The first global stocktake will be exemplary for future iterations of the process in the five yearly cycle. 

There are several legal questions that warrant in depth examination, and addressing these offers the opportunity to accompany the global stocktake in a meaningful way and to engage with the subsidiary bodies, decision-makers and the UNFCCC secretariat. 
The Durham University Centre for Sustainable Development Law and Policy (CSDLP), in partnership with the Centre for International Law (CIL) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and with the support of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat, have convened a two-part workshop series ahead of COP27. During these workshops, we explored the overall management of the process so far, covering sources of input, methodologies, and assumptions used to aggregate the four synthesis reports for the technical assessment component.