Bridging the global stocktake gap of climate mitigation: A framework to measure political economy progress

The purpose of the first Global Stocktake (GST), which will conclude in 2023, is to measure collective progress in climate action and enhance ambition for meeting the Paris Agreement. Realizing the transformative change necessary requires popular support, political commitment, and robust institutions. These aspects of “political economy,” which explores how interactions among actors, their interests, and underlying institutions shape political and economic outcomes, are critical. However, these dimensions are currently missing from the GST. Here, we provide an indicator framework for assessing the political economy of mitigation progress. Our framework includes 16 key indicators across the 5 dimensions of national ambition, institutional arrangements, stakeholders and interests, policy effectiveness, and public opinion, and we demonstrate its feasibility for the US, China, and India. This framework addresses a major knowledge gap in the GST and aims to be useful for researchers, stakeholders, and policymakers in the pursuit of effective climate action.