What is the UN global stocktake on climate change?

STORY: It's been dubbed the "report card" on climate action.

The United Nations global stocktake is meant to assess how far off track mankind is from meeting promises to stop global warming.

The report released Friday (September 8) shows the world still has some catching up to do.

Let's take a closer look at why it matters.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nearly 200 countries agreed to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius – and ideally aim for 1.5 degrees Celsius – above preindustrial times.

Each country is responsible for setting its own national targets and policies to achieve those goals.

So to check in on what countries are doing, the Paris Agreement says nations should periodically assess and evaluate progress.

Climate diplomacy analyst Linda Kalcher explains:

"The global stocktake is really the moment when when collective progress is analyzed and then as a result, we hope that countries go back home and say, 'Okay, this is what we could individually do more concretely this year.' Also, there is a conversation about phasing out fossil fuels. So we expect that in an ideal world there is a commitment to phase out fossil fuels and really scale up renewable energies."

Countries already knew what the global stocktake was going to say: they are not on track.

The world is already 1.2 C warmer than in pre-industrial times, a temperature increase that is unleashing deadly heat, wildfires and devastating drought and floods around the world.

That's despite a huge increase in the number of countries setting CO2-cutting targets.

The report urged countries to cut the use of coal power by up to around 90% by 2030, compared to 2019.

It also called to virtually eliminate it as a source of electricity by 2050.

The global stocktake is expected to be a politically divisive topic at this year's United Nations COP28 climate change summit in November - hosted by the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE's president of the conference, Sultan al-Jaber, has said the exercise must not only identify where climate action is missing, but also produce a plan to get countries on track.