The Paris Agreement includes the concept of a global stocktake (GST), a process by which progress on climate action is assessed, providing a critical opportunity to review overall progress made on mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation and support. Due in part to strong advocacy by small island developing states (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs), additional thematic areas will be part of the process. However, there remain significant research gaps on L&D that need to be addressed to support a robust GST.