'Building blocks' of first COP28 Global Stocktake draft released

The first draft text of the Global Stocktake was released with 'textual building blocks' of what may be the final document

- Jayashree Nandi

The first draft text of the Global Stocktake (GST) was released on Thursday with "textual building blocks" of what may be the final GST reflected in the Dubai agreement that is expected to come out by December 12 or 13.

The building blocks retain all important elements of meeting the Paris goal of keeping the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Cabove preindustrial levels.

It is important to remember that these are merely directional as far as GST is concerned; countries will negotiate on the building blocks.

In the energy sector, for instance, likely to be one of the most contentious sections of GST, the building blocks are phasedown/phaseout of fossil fuels (and fossil fuel subsidies) and coal, no new coal plants, a trebling of renewables, doubling energy efficiency, the role of transitional fuels, and the importance of a just energy transition. The building blocks also include carbon management/ removal approaches; transport, including timelines for zero-emission vehicles; and international shipping and aviation.

The draft notes that parties (countries) have different responsibilities, national circumstances and capabilities to contribute to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, while the impacts and risks associated with warming are unevenly distributed. Given this, mitigation action should be guided by equity, common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR-RC), historical emissions and pre-2020 climate action.