Is the world on track to achieving the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C of pre-industrial era temperature that was set by the 2015 Paris Agreement? That was the question that COP28 (Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC), held in Dubai from November 30 to December 13, sought to answer. The aim is to keep the global temperature rise well within the 2°C limit. It was also the first stocktake of the progress made so far as mandated by the Paris Agreement.
The report card is mixed. On the one hand, there was some celebration of the inclusion of fossil fuel phase-out as a whole. But it was accompanied by a great deal of concern that the major emitters were lagging on their pledges and very unlikely to meet even the first interim emission targets set for 2030.
Article 14 of the Paris Agreement stipulated a global stocktake periodically, specifying the first in 2023 (being halfway between 2015 and 2030) and every five years thereafter.