This report first examines whether the logic of the regime, and the Paris Agreement in particular, is effective. The Paris Agreement is having a positive impact: if nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are fully implemented, projected global temperature rise would be around 1 degree C less than it would have been had the agreement not been adopted. Yet the pace of action is not enough to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement—the world is on track to overshoot 1.5 degrees C, and even staying within 2 degrees C of warming is far from certain. Clearly, incremental improvements in climate ambition and implementation are not enough. A transformational shift is essential.

The report then examines how the regime’s “norm-setting” function can be strengthened to make it fit for an evolving purpose, remain functionally relevant, and deliver on the goals of the Paris Agreement. More specifically, recommendations are made in the following areas:

• enhancing ambition and fairness by increasing peer pressure that encourages and inspires ambition in light of different national circumstances and fair shares
• accelerating implementation and strengthening accountability across sectors and within nations with improved systems and processes to understand and follow up on the progress made
• strengthening cooperative action on adaptation and loss & damage (L&D) in the context of urgent needs and overshoot pathways
• expanding coverage to prepare for the future demands that will require agreement on a range of issues that are currently not addressed by the regime well or at all
• streamlining and fine-tuning processes to enhance responsiveness to an evolving purpose.

Finally, this report reviews the regime’s catalytic role in the wider landscape of climate action. The wider landscape includes relevant international organizations and agreements, international cooperative initiatives (ICIs), multilateral development banks (MDBs), international financial institutions (IFIs), and voluntary commitments by non-Party stakeholders (NPS). There is considerable potential in leveraging the actors in this landscape to narrow remaining ambition and implementation gaps in relation to mitigation, adaptation, and means of implementation, as well as fulfilling governance functions in ways that complement and reinforce the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process.

At the same time, there remain core challenges related to transparency, accountability, and the thematic and geographical balance of the wider landscape. To ensure that this wider landscape effectively contributes to and strengthens the catalytic role of the climate regime, this report highlights key findings and makes the following broad recommendations:

• Parties should harness existing agenda items under the UN climate regime, or establish a targeted mechanism or process, to foster substantive exchanges with other international organizations and treaties, including IFIs, and to recognize, consider, and promote alignment of their goals and actions with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
• Parties should enhance the role of, and engagement with, all types of ICIs, in the context of an upgraded Global Climate Action Portal, including by strengthening their transparency and accountability as well as their thematic and geographical balance.

Parties, the UNFCCC Secretariat, the High-Level Climate Champions/Marrakech Partnership, the UN Secretary-General, and/or the Conference of Parties (COP) Presidencies could advance and implement these recommendations variously, including through leveraging the GST process.

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It lays out the certainty of impact, feasibility, and barriers of each key signal, as well as existing initiatives working toward its implementation, relevant sustainable development goals, and options for outcomes of the GST at COP28. The report also underscores the importance of linking the GST outcomes to active progress in 2024 and updated nationally determined contributions in 2025.

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Several different formulations for an overarching goal have been proposed formally and informally through the GlaSS programme and related discussions. In this brief, some of these proposals will be explored while highlighting their benefits, drawbacks, and considerations. The brief concludes by looking at how Parties can work toward the successful adoption of a GGA framework from now through COP28.

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• generate discussions that are facilitative, constructive, innovative, and catalytic 
• be inclusive and ensure a diversity of participation, including by policymakers and implementers 
• generate clear signals in support of national processes and be of practical use to domestic policymaking 
• explore, elucidate, and highlight the greatest, most cost-effective and scalable mitigation opportunities/ potential, as well as enable practical pathways to help countries implement their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and identify scope for enhanced action, including by: 
  • hosting thematic workshops 
  • sharing best practices and lessons learned, including in relation to overcoming challenges to scaling and implementing enhanced mitigation action, also encompassing a focus on non-cost barriers 
  • considering sectoral approaches 
  • effectively involving non-Party stakeholders (NPS) and the High Level Climate Champions (HLCs) and drawing on their work (e.g., Climate Action Pathways and 2030 Breakthroughs) 
  • considering a regional approach 
  • developing a menu of exemplar best practices and approaches 
• track progress against commitments made by Parties and NPS outside of formal multilateral process and explore how they might form part of NDC updates 
• address issues of equity and sustainable development 
• explore synergies with adaptation 
• take into account and be based on the latest science 
• involve external expertise, as appropriate 

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