10 Years of Paris Pact: How many global climate initiatives met their goals? CEEW has some shocking details

New Delhi: Ten years after the landmark Paris Agreement, only 5 per cent of global cooperative climate initiatives have met their stated goals, while over one-fifth have stalled or become inactive, according to the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).

Published in a report, the analysis found that while global climate conferences have spurred hundreds of voluntary, multi-actor initiatives involving governments, investors, and civil society, a majority lack measurable targets, budgetary support, and accountability structures needed to sustain progress.

The report, 'Ten Years of Paris Agreement: A Stocktake of Cooperative Climate Initiatives,' was launched at an event which marked 10 years of the Paris Agreement, organised by the CEEW.

Between 2015 and 2025, more than 475 cooperative initiatives were launched, engaging over 40,000 entities from local governments and multilateral organisations to private investors and businesses.

But the CEEW analysis of 203 such initiatives found that more than 53 per cent had no clearly defined targets, and only 28 per cent had a dedicated budget.

"Out of the 203 initiatives, around 5 per cent of the initiatives have accomplished their stated goals. However, over a fifth of all initiatives are either stalled or inactive, with their status indeterminate or no updates since their initial announcements," the report said.

The study revealed that only 39 per cent of the initiatives showed continuous engagement, while about 32 per cent displayed sporadic updates with little evidence of progress.

Initiatives that began with well-defined targets, organisational structures, and monitoring mechanisms showed greater progress than those that did not.

Across the COPs, mitigation, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, has remained the predominant focus, accounting for about 36 per cent of all initiatives.

By contrast, adaptation-only initiatives -- those addressing impacts such as water scarcity, agriculture resilience, or forest protection -- make up just 21 per cent.

Areas such as land use and forests have emerged as key cross-cutting spaces linking both mitigation and adaptation, representing over 30 per cent of initiatives.

The report says that loss and damage-focused initiatives, which address irreversible climate impacts, only featured prominently at COP27, reflecting a continuing gap in global climate justice and resilience efforts.

Since COP25 in 2019, there has been a sharp rise in initiatives focused on Means of Implementation (MoI), those that provide support through finance, technology transfer, and capacity building.

These now account for 32 per cent of all initiatives.

However, the CEEW study noted that for over one-third of these, the specific thematic focus remains unclear.

Thematic integration is also expanding: gender and health are increasingly being woven into climate collaborations, while youth-focused and technology-driven initiatives have grown since COP28 in Dubai and COP29 in Baku, pointing to a broader effort to make climate action more inclusive and innovation-led.

The analysis found that while initiatives often claim global participation, less than a third exclusively target Global South regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Many initiatives combine these with Global North countries, diluting regional specificity.

Despite these disparities, India has emerged as a major player from the Global South, leading eight initiatives and mobilising an average of 47 countries per coalition, matching the engagement levels of COP presidencies.

Alongside India, the UAE and Azerbaijan were identified as key Global South contributors.

From the Global North, the United Kingdom led with 33 initiatives, followed by the UAE with 18, which also hosted COP28, the conference with the largest number of new announcements at 46.

CEEW found that although 50-80 per cent of climate mitigation and adaptation efforts are expected to occur at the subnational level, participation by local governments remains low, appearing in only one-fifth of all initiatives.

Similarly, the engagement of multilateral development banks (MDBs) and private investors remains limited, despite their critical role in mobilising climate finance.

The report called on COP presidencies to use mechanisms such as the Circle of Presidencies to institutionalise cooperative climate initiatives and ensure continuity beyond annual summits.

It also recommends establishing transparent reporting systems through platforms like the Global Climate Action Portal (GCAP) to monitor progress.