The Adaptation Working Group of the independent Global Stocktake (iGST)

Supporting the Global Stocktake (GST) in assessing progress made on adaptation towards the Global Adaptation Goal (GGA) defined in the Paris Agreement

The Global Stocktake (GST) is a process that periodically takes stock of collective progress toward the long-term goals established by the Paris Agreement. The Independent Global Stocktake (iGST) aligns the independent community to increase the accuracy, transparency, accountability, and relevance of the official GST process that empowers countries to take greater climate action. iGST includes four thematic working groups on adaptation, mitigation, finance and equity; and three regional civil society hubs: Latin America and the Caribbean, West Africa and Southeast Asia. UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre co-chairs the iGST Adaptation Working Group (AWG) created in 2019.

The Paris Agreement initiates the GST for which a critical challenge is to achieve a convergence towards a common understanding of core adaptation issues. Currently the various submissions to UNFCCC on adaptation are insufficient to ensure a consistent and transparent stocktake. To contribute to the GST’s aim of assessing progress towards the GGA, a focus on the transparency on adaptation reporting is relevant and necessary. By initiating and facilitating a global discussion on this perspective, the iGST could add significantly value towards the GST.

The AWG’s 2022 work program aimed to advance conceptual and operational discussions of the A&E of adaptation in the context of the GST by bringing together the perspectives of a multitude of stakeholders, including academia, practitioners and policy-makers, all organized around one fundamental question: ‘How can the concepts of adequacy and effectiveness of adaptation be operationalized in assessments of global progress on adaptation? The results were published March 2023 in a new ‘perspectives’ publication in the style of the long-standing UNEP CCC perspectives series (https://unepccc.org/perspectives-series/). Additional outreach activities are expected through the AWG in the remainder of 2023 towards the conclusion of the first GST.