African Climes

The global stocktake is mandated by article 14 of the Paris Agreement that requires collective assessment of climate action and progress towards attaining the goal of the agreement. It’s done every 5 years with 2023 being the first GST. This technical report is the second step in the GST with the third being adoption of its conclusions - done at COP28. The first finding is that the Paris agreement and coming into force of the UNFCCC [1]  have driven climate action at a global scale. However, we are still not on track to keep within 1.5/2C. In 2010 at Cancun, temperatures were projected to be 3.7-4.8 degrees above preindustrial levels in 2100. In 2015, analysis of all INDC [2] s indicated 3-3.2 degrees. At COP27 [3] , mitigation announcements and long term net zero targets indicated a rise of 1.7-2.1 degrees in 2100. The agreement has increased support for climate mitigation and adaptation especially in developing countries. In addition, the IPCC [4] reports, most recently t...

The 28 th conference of parties to UNFCCC serving as the 5 th meeting of parties to the Paris Agreement was held from 30 th November to 13 th December 2023 in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. This was an important one because of the global stocktake (GST), the process which assesses all climate progress vis-a-vis the goals of the Paris agreement. The stocktake tells us where we are in attaining these goals and sets the new basis for individual national climate targets (NDCs). The first was in 2023 and thereafter every five years. This 21-page decision was comprehensive because it involves everything in climate change and it contains every sector. It starts by acknowledging the findings of the UNFCCC NDCs synthesis report and those of the IPCC’s sixth assessment report. Notably, human activities have caused a rise of 1.1C above preindustrial times, and rapid deep and accelerated emission cuts are needed this decade to keep within 1.5 and reach net zero by midcentury. The P...