As ECO has already explained, the GST is the guardian of the Paris Agreement. It is about protecting people and ecosystems from climate change impacts, and it’s about saving lives, cultures, and livelihoods. Yet looking at the draft COP cover text, you would hardly know that Glasgow is the moment that will kickstart the first Global Stocktake – it’s tucked away at the end of the CMA decision.
This process requires a lot of work for Parties, but also for all the constituencies of the UNFCCC, who are invited to be part of the discussions, submit inputs and coordinate. ECO knows that civil society is ready to engage in the work to be done so that the GST is a real technical and political success.
However, that effort will need support to achieve success. The first submission phase will start soon and is expected to finish by February 2022. As such, all constituencies are expected to submit reports, data and inputs for the GST by this deadline, and should ideally consolidate a submission with summaries of the main inputs of their members. English language is required of course, but to ensure inclusivity, all UN languages should be accepted. But ECO is concerned that meeting these deadlines will be hard to achieve. Civil society has very limited capacity to carry out such a momentous task on such a shortened timeline. If civil society is to accomplish that, it will need strong engagement from Parties to support this.
Thus, ECO proposes the following bullet point in the COP26 decision text:
Recalling 19/CMA.1, paragraph 37(i), point I, notes parties agreed that UNFCCC observers were included in the non-exhaustive list of inputs for the Global Stocktake; requests Parties to support the submission and participation processes of the nine constituencies; and invites the three COP presidencies of each Global Stocktake process to facilitate and ensure the financial, logistical, and technical support and resources needed for these constituencies to be able to fully participate and submit their inputs.
We think that the COP Presidencies’ duty during the three submission phases and the technical dialogues should be to ensure the support of constituencies in the GST process.
The participation and inclusion of the most vulnerable, of women, Indigenous Peoples, youth organisations, and civil society in general, is a key element of the success of the GST, and we need a strong commitment from Parties here.