The Global Stocktake (GST) under the Paris Agreement periodically assesses the collective progress towards achieving the long-term goals of the Agreement. A project commissioned by the German Environment Agency accompanied all phases of the first GST with analysis focused on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and examined the GST’s implications for climate action. Analyses of transformative mitigation actions, the distribution of greenhouse gas emissions, equity considerations and a wide range of inputs to the GST provide valuable insights for the first and future GSTs, and help inform the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that are due to be submitted following the GST.