This year, COP28 will mark the conclusion of the first global stocktake, which will provide an opportunity to review progress on climate action and provide recommendations for scaling up implementation – which will be pivotal to whether or not we meet our Paris Agreement goals and the critical milestones needed by 2030.

During Q1, the co-facilitators of the Technical Dialogue of the global stocktake issued a summary report of the second meeting of the dialogue. The report reflects on key messages related to mitigation, adaptation, and support so far. The third and final meeting of the Technical Dialogue will take place at the Bonn Climate Change Conference (SB58) this June.

To pave the way for a successful COP28, Egypt and the UAE jointly convened the first virtual consultations with group chairs and Heads of Delegations in February to take stock of the outcomes of COP27 and share expectations for the work in 2023. This was followed by a second consultation in March, focusing on the global stocktake. You can read the summaries of these consultations here.

In Q1, UN Climate Change organized more than 10 mandated events to advance adaptation efforts, including a meeting of the Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG) that resulted in a work programme for 2023-24. The work programme will accelerate support to least developed countries (LDCs) in formulating and implementing their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).

In February, NAP writing workshops were held for African LDCs resulting in 30 new project ideas added to the existing 50 from 2022, with some ideas already submitted to the Green Climate Fund.

The Executive Secretary also underlined the need to boost the capacity of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change at the Fifth Least Developed Countries Conference in Doha. Acknowledging that to date only 18 out of 46 LDCs have a NAP, he committed UN Climate Change to come up with a plan by COP28 to get all LDCs on the journey to delivering a NAP.

The Adaptation Committee met in Bonn, in March, focusing on addressing capacity gaps in adaptation finance and supporting Parties in NAP formulation and implementation. Also in March, the fifth Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) workshop took place in the Maldives, where work advanced discussions on developing the GGA framework.

The Transitional Committee on the operationalization of the funding arrangements and new fund for responding to loss and damage held its first meeting at the end of March in Egypt, adopting a workplan to COP28. The workplan sets out key substantive and procedural milestones and steps to be taken towards the delivery of recommendations to COP28. Prior to this meeting, the COP27 Presidency organized a retreat for Committee members to pave the way for the discussions. A technical support unit (TSU) has also been established to support the work of the Transitional Committee. The TSU consists of staff seconded from UN agencies, international financial institutions, multilateral development banks, and the operating entities of the financial mechanism.

At the UN Water Conference in New York, the Executive Secretary announced a new action pledge under the Nairobi Work Programme to address knowledge gaps, unlock innovation and scale up action to address the nexus of water-climate challenges in developing countries.

Mitigation Work Programme

Complementing the global stocktake, the Sharm el-Sheikh mitigation ambition and implementation work programme (MWP), will become a key tool for Parties to implement their national climate action plans. The work of the MWP got underway in Q1 with the appointment of two co-chairs. Following suggestions from Parties, observers and other non-Party stakeholders, the co-chairs decided that the dialogues taking place under the MWP in 2023 will focus on ‘accelerating just energy transition.’ The first global dialogue and the first investment-focused event will be organized in conjunction with SB58.

Cooperative Implementation

In Q1, there were several milestones under the Article 6.2 stream of work. One of these was the release of an interim solution for the centralized accounting and reporting platform, which allows Parties to submit their initial reports. Additionally, there were capacity-building activities for the West African Alliance for Carbon Markets and Climate Finance in the area of Article 6, focusing on initial reporting and infrastructure development to foster carbon markets. The constituted supervisory body established to oversee the Article 6.4 mechanism has advanced its work to expedite the operationalization of the mechanism.

Response Measures

A new report prepared by the Katowice Committee of Experts on the Impacts of the Implementation of Response highlighted on-the-ground case studies that show how shifting to a low-carbon economy can unlock new jobs and opportunities, while also being socially and economically fair as possible for everyone. The mandated report compiles some of the best practices from different countries that are already implementing just transition and economic diversification strategies.

Regional Collaboration Centres

The Regional Collaboration Centres (RCCs) have been working with other organizations to help raise awareness and build capacity related to climate action. RCC Kampala teamed up with UNDP to create an online course about operationalizing Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement. RCC Panama and the Inter American Development Bank co-organized a workshop on carbon markets and carbon instruments with experts from Latin America ministries of finance. RCC Bangkok organized a workshop on climate finance for Southeast Asia.

Finance

In Q1 2023, the finance team worked to advance progress on several key issues, including support to developing countries in assessing their needs and priorities and translating them into action in the context of long-term climate finance. The team organized a series of training workshops with climate finance stakeholders and institutions in several regions to ensure the mobilization and access of finance for developing countries.

In March, the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF) held a meeting alongside the Fifth Technical Expert Dialogue (TED5) under the Ad hoc Work Programme on the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance. During this meeting, the SCF agreed on workplans and timelines to deliver technical reports that will assist Parties on issues such as doubling adaptation finance, defining climate finance, and financing just transition. These reports will provide critical guidance to help countries take meaningful action on climate finance.

Technology

In March, there were two key meetings of the Technology Mechanism: the 26th meeting of the Technology Executive Committee (TEC26); and the 21st meeting of the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) Advisory Board, both held in the Republic of Korea.

The TEC and CTCN embarked on new ways of working under the first Joint Work Programme of the Technology Mechanism for 2023-2027. The goal is to focus on high-potential and high-impact sectors and actions to drive progress in implementing the Paris Agreement. To achieve this, the Technology Mechanism is strengthening collaborative partnerships within and outside UN Climate Change and taking a more focused approach to promoting climate technologies.

Capacity Building

The capacity building team released five reports to help developing countries respond to climate change. These reports include a synthesis report on the implementation of the framework for capacity-building in developing countries, and a report on best practices and lessons learned related to improving coherence and coordination of capacity-building efforts.

In February, the lead reviewers (LRs) met in Bonn to discuss issues related to the enhanced transparency framework (ETF), greenhouse gas inventory and National Communications and Biennial Reports (NC/BR) reviews.

During the first quarter, a total of 19 Parties were reviewed with the support of 87 experts. The review processes provide an opportunity to assess transparency and accountability improvements.

The reviews of the 12 Annex I Parties (including the EU as a group) showed that they achieved their 2020 emission reduction targets and that most launched efforts to become carbon neutral by 2050. For Non-Annex I Parties, the technical analysis of biennial update reports showed improvements in reporting and related capacity-building needs.

In addition, the assessment of 11 submissions on REDD+ was conducted in the first quarter. To date, the process has received submissions from 60 developing countries, covering 1.35 billion ha or nearly 62% of the total forest cover in developing countries and nearly 72% of global deforestation.

The first batch of training programmes for technical experts participating in the technical expert review of biennial transparency reports was launched on 1 March.

In February, members of the Consultative Group of Experts met in Bonn to develop their 2023 workplan, which includes a series of hands-on training workshops to provide technical support for developing countries to deal with climate change.

UN Climate Change supports the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, engaging a wide range of actors, including regions, cities, businesses, investors and all parts of civil society, for successful climate action.

The High-Level Champions and Marrakech Partnership developed their 2023 work programme, focusing on supporting the UNFCCC process, such as the global stocktake and the mitigation work programme.

UN Climate Change launched an observer review process in 2022 to improve observer engagement in the UNFCCC and received more than 300 proposals. A final report with recommendations will be published soon.

Responding to the recommendations of the High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities, the UN Secretary-General emphasized that the UNFCCC should play a decisive role in ensuring the accountability and verification mechanisms associated with net-zero pledges from non-Party stakeholders, initiatives and campaigns. At COP27, Parties also invited the secretariat to “ensure greater accountability of voluntary initiatives through the Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action platform.”

In response to these requests, plans have been prepared for the implementation of a Global Climate Action Accountability Framework. A version of the plan addressing net-zero commitments has been shared with Secretary-General and will be communicated to Parties and the public in due course, together with information on how the secretariat plans to ensure the accountability of climate action pledges.

Building on the findings of the intermediate review of the gender action plan at COP27, the secretariat is focused on strengthening collaboration and supporting the action plan’s accelerated implementation in 2023.

In March, on the margins of the (UN) Commission on the Status of Women, the secretariat convened a broad range of organizations that have been involved in implementing the gender action plan to identify areas for collaboration around activities, countries or groups of people (e.g. National Gender and Climate Change Focal Points, national statisticians, etc.), including in relation to addressing gaps and challenges. Insights provided during this convening will inform mandated activities throughout the year, including during SB58 and ongoing support to National Gender and Climate Change Focal Points.

The 2024-2025 budget process made significant headway in Q1. The budget proposal by the Executive Secretary as well as the programme budget were published in March. Budget briefings for Parties will be conducted leading to budget negotiations at SB58 in June.

For example, in 2024, UN Climate Change must be resourced to support Parties in responding to the outcomes of the first global stocktake, and in transforming the finance agenda. In 2025, UN Climate Change will proactively support Parties in ratcheting up ambition in the next round of nationally determined contributions.

Quarter 2 will be a busy time for UN Climate Change as we prepare for the Bonn Climate Change Conference (SB58) in June. The provisional agendas and annotations for SBSTA58 and SBI58 have been published on our website. The overview schedule and joint scenario note from the Chairs of the subsidiary bodies will be published in May.

Building on the many mandates that emerged from COP27 in Egypt last year, the conference will host a large number of mandated events and continue discussions on issues of critical importance, such as the global stocktake, the global goal on adaptation, just transition, the mitigation work programme and loss and damage, among others.

The conference is expected to make progress on these and other important issues and prepare decisions for adoption at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates in December.

In addition, the secretariat has been reviewing the nearly 250 mandated and process-related meetings in the climate calendar, in order to find efficiencies by consolidating or clustering related or joint meetings. The secretariat is also reviewing proposals for process reform, based on experiences and lessons learned from prior COPs.

We look forward to updating you on the conference outcomes, and all of our other work, in our Q2 2023 report.