After two years of work since COP26, we are finally here: at the climax of the first Global Stocktake.
ECO has been following it every step of the way – the hundreds of hours of technical dialogues, the pages of submissions, and scouring through every inch of the final synthesis report.
We don’t need to spell out again what is at stake here. Look Around You! The planet is burning, and people are suffering the ravages of hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, and other extreme climate events. Let ECO remind you that we are not prepared for the horrors of a world warming more than 1.5°C. Yet governments are not doing enough to slash emissions and protect natural carbon stocks and sinks, and there is still not enough finance going to where it is needed.
The world’s response at COP28 is a chance to change all this. The decision on the Global Stocktake needs to do more than just take stock. It must unleash a revolution in equitable climate action. It needs to define the way forward by defining clear processes and timelines.
The outcome must set us on a path for more ambitious climate targets and accelerated implementation. Making up for the weaknesses in current NDCs means countries must commit to do better next time round. That means all countries submitting NDCs for 2035 that put us on course for a 1.5ºC trajectory, with targets that cover their entire economy, all sectors, all gases, and in absolute terms from a clear baseline – and doing so well ahead of COP30 in 2025.
The COP28 GST decision can also spur systems transformations everywhere, with human rights and equality at its core.
For energy systems, it must turbocharge the scale up of renewable energy and energy efficiency, while accelerating the full, fair, funded and fast phase out of all fossil fuels, leaving no one behind.
And in this we must ensure a just transition for workers and communities, with the GST recommending how to advance and accelerate the just transition, delivering social justice for workers and communities as well as strengthening international cooperation to accelerate just transition pathways, based on human and labour rights.
For nature systems, it is time for clarity on how to reset our relationship with the natural world, how we treat land and oceans, and how to accelerate concrete actions taking a rights-based approach that will support biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. We must end deforestation and ecosystem degradation and foster agroecology, in line with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
And it is long overdue for you to meet past climate finance commitments and mend our broken financial system! The GST should build upon the leadership of developing countries who have called for radical reform of the international financial architecture to unlock trillions of dollars in support for socially just, zero-carbon and resilient development.
ECO heard the message from the GST: in light of the existing climate action gaps, we need to urgently intensify efforts across the board, recognizing that the scale of adaptation and addressing loss and damage is directly proportional to the level of mitigation achieved.
These commitments alone are not enough. ECO knows all too well how easily promises can die on the paper they are written on. So, lastly, the GST must have clear follow-up processes to ensure what is agreed is delivered: via new and solid NDCs, stronger international cooperation, and a clear political process for guaranteeing action in the years to come.