Global Stocktake governance and facilitation
GST technical assessment

Governance of the Global Stocktake

The governance of the GST consists of four levels:

  • The CMA has the overall responsibility to conduct the GST.
  • The SBSTA and SBI are mandated to assist the CMA in conducting the global stocktake, especially with regards to the technical assessment component through the technical dialogue and the Joint Contact Group.
  • The technical dialogue, which will be focused, transparent and facilitative in nature and will allow Parties to engage and discuss with constituted bodies and forums and other institutional arrangements under or serving the Paris Agreement and/or the Convention and experts to consider inputs and assess collective efforts. The dialogue will be facilitated by two co-facilitators, each from a developing and developed country, and will be guided by questions to be developed by the SBSTA and SBI Chairs on each thematic area and cross-cutting.
  • A High-Level Committee consisting of the CMA Presidencies and the Chairs of the SBSTA and SBI will chair the high level events of the GST-CO.

Co-facilitators of the technical dialogue of the first Global Stocktake

  

GST co-facilitator

Harald Winkler

Harald was nominated as the co-facilitator of the technical dialogue of the first global stocktake by the Developing Country Parties. He is a professor at University of Cape Town, with research focused on expertise in mitigation, poverty and inequality, and has several publications including on the global stocktake, transparency and a just transition in South Africa. He has played an active role in the UNFCCC negotiations for more than two decades, including on the global stocktake and decision 19/CMA.1.

Harald brings strong foundations in the state of knowledge of climate change to the role of GST co-facilitation, through his involvement in the IPCC. He is Coordinating Lead Author of Chapter 4 (Mitigation and development pathways) in WGIII and on the core writing team for the Synthesis Report of the Sixth Assessment Report. He is an experienced facilitator at the national and international levels, bringing together different perspectives on complex issues in ways that move processes forward.

GST co-facilitator

Farhan Akhtar  

Dr. Farhan Akhtar was nominated as the co-facilitator of the technical dialogue of the first global stocktake by the Developed Country Parties. He is chief scientist for climate change at the U.S. Department of State.  Dr. Akhtar is the senior State Department scientist on Sub-committee for Global Change Research, which coordinates climate change research for the United States government.  In this function, he played a key role in producing international portions of the Fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment.  Since 2019, Dr. Akhtar has served as the lead representative for the United States at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and oversees U.S. scientific and technical input into the IPCC.

At the UNFCCC, Dr. Akhtar oversees U.S. engagement on adaptation, loss and damage, research and systematic observations, periodic review, and other science issues. Since 2017, Dr. Akhtar has served on the Executive Committee for the Warsaw International Mechanism for loss and damage associated with the adverse impacts of climate change.  From 2015-2019, Dr. Akhtar served as the U.S. council member for the Least Developed Countries Fund and Special Climate Change Fund.

Content