Presentation short abstract

The Paris Agreements first Global Stocktake (GST) expanded access but reproduced hidden power asymmetries. This research reveals how participation, knowledge, and influence were unevenly distributed and outlines reforms for more inclusive future stocktakes.

Presentation long abstract

The Global Stocktake (GST) is the Paris Agreement’s central mechanism for assessing collective progress and is mandated to operate “in the light of equity” with broad participation. While the first GST (GST-1) was widely portrayed as inclusive, little systematic analysis has examined how inclusivity was constructed and practiced. This article evaluates GST-1 through a power-sensitive framework that conceptualises participation across visible, hidden, and invisible dimensions. Based on participant observation across GST phases, 26 semi-structured interviews and document analysis of Party and non-Party stakeholder submissions on the learnings of GST-1, the study traces both discursive understandings of inclusivity and the structural conditions shaping actors’ ability to influence the process.

Findings show that the Technical Dialogue of the first GST expanded formal access—through world cafés, roundtables, and diverse inputs—yet longstanding power asymmetries persisted. Visa barriers, funding constraints, delegation size, and linguistic disadvantages limited meaningful engagement for many actors from the Majority world. Epistemic hierarchies privileged scientific and technocratic expertise, constraining the recognition of Indigenous, local, and experiential knowledge despite its procedural endorsement. In the political phase, agenda-setting dynamics and informal bargaining further reduced the influence of low-power stakeholders.

The article argues that procedural equity in the GST cannot be equated with broad participation alone; it requires confronting the power relations that shape whose knowledge and preferences meaningfully enter deliberation and outcomes. It concludes by outlining reforms for future GST cycles, including stronger support for developing-country participation, broader epistemic inclusion, and improved linkage between technical deliberation and political decision-making.