Throughout the climate community, eyes are turning already to COP 28 next year in the United Arab Emirates, where the first global stocktake under the Paris Agreement will come to a close. But what is the global stocktake and why is it so important?

Under the Paris Agreement, parties agreed that they would review their progress towards achieving the Paris Agreement's objectives and ambition every five years, with these efforts meant to inspire new or updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs) - in other words, governments' national pledges towards meeting the overall agreement. This first-such global stocktake kicked off in Glasgow last year and in Bonn, parties will start the technical assessment component of that work.

Heading into Bonn and, later this year, Sharm el-Sheikh, governments have an opportunity to use the global stocktake to recognize the need for a managed phaseout of oil and gas, while also leveraging the insights and lessons learned from the national adaptation plan (NAP) process and adaptation communications (ADCOMs) - especially as many countries are gearing up to submit their first ADCOM to the UNFCCC this year.

When the Paris Agreement was crafted, the first paragraph of Article 7 established a "global goal on adaptation." This goal recognized that, throughout the world, there is a crucial and pressing need to build capacity to adapt to a changing climate, while developing greater resilience and addressing vulnerabilities to the threats posed by a warming planet.

How to put this goal into practice, however, has been a persistent question among climate negotiators in the years since, especially amid the hopes that having this global goal can help drive much-needed financial flows to adaptation efforts. This is becoming increasingly urgent as the impacts of climate change are already being felt on a daily basis throughout the globe.

Last year at COP 26, governments endorsed the Glasgow–Sharm el-Sheikh work programme on the global goal on adaptation, which sets out a set of objectives to guide climate negotiators' efforts in this area over a two-year period. How these objectives are being met will be a key question for climate negotiators and the wider climate community, both in the lead-up to COP 27 and beyond. The implementation of the work programme is being led by the two UNFCCC subsidiary bodies.

The work programme's objectives include, for example, "[enabling] the full and sustained implementation of the Paris Agreement, towards achieving the goal goal on adaptation, with a view to enhancing adaptation action and support." Parties are also looking to better understand what this global goal is; how to assess how close the parties are to reaching it, drawing from inputs at the local, sub-national, regional, and international levels; and ensuring that this information can then inform the global stocktake. Also crucial in the work programme is the role of national adaptation plans and communicating on national adaptation priorities, implementation, and support needs and actions, as is "[strengthening] implementation of adaptation actions in vulnerable developing countries."

Many countries are preparing to submit their first adaptation communication (ADCOM) under the UNFCCC this year. The ADCOM is a voluntary, flexible, and country-driven mechanism established under the Paris Agreement that boosts the visibility and profile of adaptation by including information on that country’s priorities, implementation, and support needs, plans, and actions. The ADCOM will also be used to inform the global stocktake.

The NAP Global Network Secretariat is currently supporting 20 country partners with this work and has seen several common questions emerge on what ADCOMs are and how they can link to NAP processes. Find answers to some of these recurring questions on the NAP Global Network website.

The Glasgow Climate Pact endorsed at COP 26 included a notable pledge: that the transition to low-carbon energy systems should involve "accelerating efforts towards the phasedown of unabated coal power and phase-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, while providing targeted support to the poorest and most vulnerable in line with national circumstances and recognizing the need for support towards a just transition."

Governments now face the task of translating this pledge on fossil fuel subsidies into practice. According to the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Tracker, a joint database organized by IISD and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, fossil fuel subsidies at the global level reached USD 375 billion in 2020 alone. Delivering on the pledge made in Glasgow can send a strong signal of governments' ambition to shift towards fully renewable energy systems and energy-efficient economies.

They also need to be prepared to unlock the trillions needs to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, including by shifting public support away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy, and ensure a just transition.

Three years ago in Chile at COP 25, governments endorsed an "enhanced five-year Lima work programme on gender and its gender action plan," with the latter including five priority areas and related objectives directed towards making sure the wider climate community, from UN climate negotiators to researchers and well beyond, makes sure that climate action is gender-responsive and also understands what that means.

This is crucial for both climate mitigation and climate adaptation action, from the local and sub-national levels to the international level.

Another crucial component of this plan is making sure that, in the UNFCCC process itself, women have a role that is "full, equal, and meaningful." This Gender Action Plan faces an intermediate check-point at the mid-year talks in Bonn this year.