Getting a Glimpse into the Global Stocktake Process at UNFCCC

By Sam Brecker

Since the days of leading my high school model UN team to a conference in Washington, D.C., one of my goals for growing in my career and coming into graduate school was to work for the UN. The real United Nations.

Over the first year of graduate school, I had several classes that exposed me to the theory and practice of how the UN operated, especially in the climate space. One of the most influential experiences I had in this regard was in the Climate Change Law & Policy class taught by Dean Gallagher and Professor Werksman. We had several class modules on the Paris Agreement, including a negotiation simulation that gave us hands-on experience of what it is like to be a delegate in the UNFCCC.

While I did not end up representing any Parties, I was empowered to work with the UNFCCC’s Global Stocktake Team thanks to the facilitation and financial support of CIERP over last fall semester. Under the Research and System Observations Office, one of my primary goals was to support building knowledge resources in preparation for COP28.

One of the sources for knowledge resources came in the form of the regional climate weeks that had been hosted to discuss preparation for Parties to make their commitments to COP28’s Global Stocktake event.

As part of the Global Stocktake process, I also supported the organization and preparation of Earth Information Day, which is an event now held annually at each COP. This event serves as the keystone to the principle that Parties are making decisions and commitments informed by the best available science. At Earth Information Day, Parties took stock of the ‘State of the Climate’ and other topics relevant to the measuring and monitoring of scientific data that describe climate trends today and for what is anticipated in the short-term and long-term future.

Although I would have loved to have been present on the Bonn, Germany campus, this experience was designed for remote delivery, which allowed me to concurrently continue my last semester at The Fletcher School. Despite the internship’s remote nature, I did not feel removed from the team or work. My managers always had something for me to do, and we maintained an efficient task allocation system alongside the two other interns. We were often able to equally split up the work or exchange tasks given our schedules, which I was impressed came together effortlessly.

I had been given the impression that the UN work culture would be chaotic, including long and unconventional hours. While the design of the internship being part-time may have shielded me from that level of exposure, my managers gave me an incredible amount of flexibility and respect considering both my school and personal obligations. A simple communication was all that was needed to take time off or assess how much of a workload I could take each week, which made me admire my coworkers more.

It was clear folks who had worked at the UNFCCC cared about the mission, were motivated to do everything possible to produce a quality output, and were able to stay cordial and professional through it all. I was impressed with the level of engagement from all the people I had worked with.

One of the greatest challenges of the work was the time zone difference, which fluctuated among coworkers who were based in Scotland, those at HQ in Bonn, and when staff traveled to Dubai to serve at COP28. Sometimes, this required getting up before dawn for meetings and finishing up tasks late at night that were quick turnarounds.

I anticipate the main result of the internship to be the publication of the Earth Information Day Summary Report in early 2024, to which I made a significant contribution providing the first draft. In the end, I learned a lot serving in the UN, and I hope to work with colleagues of any UN body in my future professional life!

Sam Brecker received his Master’s in Global Affairs from The Fletcher School in 2023.