Private sector adaptation reporting as a source of input to the Global Stocktake

The global stocktake process has been established by article 14 of the Paris Agreement to periodically track progress towards achieving the collective goals set out in the Paris Agreement, including the global goal on adaptation. Its outputs are intended to serve as input to negotiations under the UNFCCC and to support Parties in enhancing their climate policies. The inaugural global stocktake was commenced at the COP26 in November 2021 and will be carried out in 2021 - 2023. A proposed approach for implementing the first global stocktake process was outlined in a UNFCCC "non-paper" (and its revised version) earlier in 2021. However, as a global level assessment being conducted across multiple thematic areas and dimensions, the global stocktake represents a methodologically challenging endeavour. Consequently, the global stocktakes – at least initially – are unlikely to be able to generate a fully comprehensive picture of progress that meaningfully considers the contributions of all actors. As a key member of the broad-based coalition of actors required to mitigate and adapt to climate change, it is important that the contributions and needs of the private sector are not overlooked by the global stocktake. Their omission would inevitably limit the global stocktake's ability to fully inform the Parties and the negotiations – potentially leading to the development and implementation of decisions and policies that are inadequate for seizing the potential of the private sector or meeting its growing adaptation needs. At present, however, information about adaptation by the private sector is largely absent from Party submissions to the UNFCCC, which represent a key source of input to the global stocktake. Equally, discussions relating to how to integrate private sector adaptation into the global stocktake are very limited, and little progress has been made so far in proposing, developing, and applying approaches to track and assess private sector adaptation at the global level.

In response, this report, co-led by UNEP DTU Partnership and The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, explores whether emerging sources of data being generated by various types of private sector reporting can be used as inputs to assess private sector adaptation at aggregated levels. The overall aim of this work is to lay the groundwork for the utilization of this data in assessments of private sector adaptation at the global level, thereby eventually enabling it to be considered in future iterations of the global stocktake. To present the key findings, this summary is organised in four sections: the current
landscape of private sector reporting; gaps, limitations and challenges; summary and way forward; and the recommendations for enabling such reporting to be considered by the global stocktake.