Assessing adaptation progress for the global stocktake

The document argues that a lack of rigour in reporting and evaluation hinders the ability to track progress toward the global goal on adaptation within the UNFCCC global stocktake. It identifies four specific constraints: the lack of public accessibility to data on intervention outputs, inconsistent reporting of outcomes, a scarcity of independent impact evaluations, and a tendency to measure process rather than actual progress. To address these, the authors propose the creation of a free global database of interventions, the adoption of consistent indicators, increased investment in rigorous monitoring and evaluation by funders, and the application of established development research practices to impact evaluation.

• Tracking progress toward the global goal on adaptation—which aims to reduce vulnerability, strengthen resilience, and enhance adaptive capacity—is currently difficult due to a lack of rigour in reporting and evaluation.
• The authors identify four primary challenges in assessing adaptation progress: data on outputs and outcomes are not easily accessible, reporting is inconsistent and incomplete, independent impact evaluations are rare, and evaluations often focus on process rather than progress.
• Proposed solutions to improve adaptation assessment include establishing a free, comprehensive global database of interventions, using agreed-upon indicators consistently, increasing investment in monitoring and evaluation, and adopting impact evaluation approaches from development research.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2023). Assessing adaptation progress for the global stocktake. https://www.sei.org/publications/assessing-adaptation-progress-for-the-global-stocktake/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Assessing adaptation progress for the global stocktake. 2023. https://www.sei.org/publications/assessing-adaptation-progress-for-the-global-stocktake/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Assessing adaptation progress for the global stocktake |date=20 April 2023 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/assessing-adaptation-progress-for-the-global-stocktake/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2023assessing, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Assessing adaptation progress for the global stocktake}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2023}, month = apr, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/assessing-adaptation-progress-for-the-global-stocktake/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }