Can litigation assist in implementing the outcome of the global stocktake?

Abstract

Rising global temperatures and concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are reaching record highs. The consequences being reported globally are becoming increasingly severe. At the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in 2021, the parties to the Paris Agreement agreed on the terms of a global stocktake mechanism to periodically assess the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of the agreement’s long-term goals. The outcome of the global stocktake will be a finding of whether insufficient progress has been made in achieving the long-terms goals of the Paris Agreement and mitigating climate change. This article explores the ways in which the outcome of the global stocktake can inform parties’ actions under the Paris Agreement and be used in climate litigation. The outcome of the global stocktake may be able to be used in litigation in four ways: first, to enforce a party’s obligations under the Paris Agreement; second, to enforce relevant resolutions of the COP; third, to implement the principle of solidarity; and fourth, to use a factual assessment of the parties’ progress in achieving the Paris Agreement to establish insufficiency. This article examines these four ways that litigation might assist in implementing the outcome of the global stocktake.