Presentation short abstract

Adaptation in the Paris Agreements Global Stocktake (GST) is governed through technocratic logics that marginalise political and local knowledges. This study shows how epistemic and structural power shape outcomes and argues for a more deliberative, justice-oriented GST.

Presentation long abstract

The Global Stocktake (GST) of the Paris Agreement is often portrayed as a technocratic mechanism to assess collective progress on climate action. Yet, beyond its procedural role, the GST constitutes a key site where norms, knowledge, and authority in global climate governance are negotiated. This article examines how adaptation is governed through the first GST, revealing how epistemic and structural power shape what counts as legitimate adaptation knowledge and action. Drawing on 32 semi-structured interviews with UNFCCC negotiators, national policymakers, and civil society actors, the study analyses how adaptation was discursively constructed, interpreted, and institutionalised across the technical and political phases of the GST. The findings show that adaptation was largely framed as a managerial and measurable process of planning and reporting, mirroring the concurrent Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) negotiations, while deeper distributive and political dimensions of vulnerability were sidelined. Despite providing limited political signals, most notably the call for national adaptation plans by 2025, the GST’s design and implementation reinforced hierarchies privileging mitigation over adaptation and technocratic expertise over plural knowledges. The article argues that the GST’s potential to advance adaptation lies less in refining indicators than in fostering deliberation, inclusivity, and accountability for the structural drivers of vulnerability. By reframing the GST as a deliberative and inclusive process, the study identifies concrete pathways for enhancing the political relevance and legitimacy of global adaptation governance in future stocktake cycles.