The Paris Agreement on Climate Change

• The Paris Agreement mandates significant commitments from all countries, both developed and developing, to tackle climate change.
• Countries responsible for 97% of global emissions have pledged Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for addressing climate change.
• Countries are expected to revisit and strengthen their emissions reduction targets by 2020 and 2030.
• The Paris Agreement includes a robust transparency and accountability system, requiring countries to report greenhouse gas inventories and projections subject to expert review and multilateral examination.
• Countries will provide climate finance to aid vulnerable nations in adapting to climate change and developing low-carbon economies.
• The Paris Agreement facilitates the next phase of global climate actions, fostering a cycle of more aggressive action in future decades.
• On December 12, 2015, countries adopted an international agreement in Paris, emphasizing deeper emissions reduction commitments from all countries.
• Over 160 countries have enshrined these commitments with domestic ratification, acceptance, or approval.
• The agreement holds countries accountable and mobilizes investments to assist developing nations in building low-carbon, climate-resilient economies.
• Encouragingly, businesses, investors, states, provinces, cities, and financial institutions have pledged actions to support governments in implementing and exceeding commitments.
• The Paris Agreement brings the world closer to a safer climate trajectory and establishes an ambitious path for future action.
• The agreement strengthens national action by ensuring current commitments are the floor, not the ceiling, of ambition and motivates action by cities, states, and companies.

Key Elements of the Paris Agreement

• The Paris Agreement is based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Copenhagen and Cancun Agreements.
• The Paris Agreement sets minimum obligations, implements action-stimulating mechanisms in developing countries, supports vulnerable countries, and establishes accountability systems.
• The Paris Agreement strengthens over time using its solid framework.

New Emissions Reduction Targets

• Countries responsible for over 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions committed to reducing emissions by 2020 as part of the Copenhagen and Cancun agreements.
• The Paris Agreement includes commitments beyond 2020, increasing ambition.
• Emissions reduction commitments reflect different levels of development and capabilities.
• 192 countries, responsible for over 97% of the world's climate pollution, have announced specific reduction plans known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• The Paris Agreement came into force on November 4, 2016, after 55 parties representing 55% of global emissions joined.
• To date, 160 parties have formally joined the Agreement.

Driving Greater Action

• Countries will need to revisit current pledges by 2020 and ideally strengthen 2030 targets.
• Countries outline their next set of commitments every five years, ratcheting down emissions to a long-term target of emissions neutrality.
• Beginning in 2018, countries will assess the aggregate effort of national pledges to keep global average temperature well under a 2 degrees Celsius rise.
• This is a solid process for reassessing and deepening emissions reduction commitments every five years.

Building Upon International Agreements

• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), formed in 1992 with 196 parties, aims to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations, preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.
• The Copenhagen climate change conference produced the Copenhagen Accord in 2009 and was adopted in 2010 as the Cancun Agreements.
• The Copenhagen Accord included the United States, China, European Union, and India which committed to reducing emissions by 2020 and agreed to assist developing countries and track progress.
• Climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa, in 2011 set the end of 2015 as the deadline for a new international agreement "applicable to all".
• The Paris Agreement has fulfilled the mandate to establish a post-2020 agreement.

Tracking Country-Level Progress

• The Paris Agreement includes a robust transparency and accountability system to hold governments accountable for their commitments.
• The transparency regime is legally binding and applies to all countries.
• Countries must report greenhouse gas inventories and progress towards their emissions reduction targets every two years.
• The reports will require reporting on adaptation and assistance to developing nations.
• The reports will be subject to an independent "technical expert review" and a "multilateral examination".
• These tools will spotlight whether countries are following through with their commitments and are aided by domestic motivation to follow through on their new commitments, since countries have realized that acting on climate change is in their own national interest.

Assisting Developing Countries

• In Copenhagen, countries agreed to establish the multilateral Green Climate Fund (GCF) to help mobilize funding in developing countries to reduce emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
• Nearly $11 billion has been pledged to the GCF from 31 countries, including a $3 billion pledge from the United States.
• Countries agreed to help mobilize $100 billion by 2020 through public and private financing to assist developing countries in reducing emissions and adapting to climate change.
• Developed countries agreed to continue the existing collective mobilization commitment on finance ($100 billion annually) through 2025 and prior to 2025, developed countries would set a new collective quantified goal of mobilizing at least $100 billion for climate finance.
• Other countries are encouraged to also help mobilize finance and developed countries will communicate every two years on projected levels of public climate finance for developing countries.
• Developing countries will report on climate finance on a voluntary basis and regular updates send a signal for where low-carbon investments can be made.

Post-2020 Climate Targets

• Prior to the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, countries submitted climate commitments, including specific targets for emissions reductions.
• 192 countries, accounting for 97% of global greenhouse gas emissions, have submitted their climate pledges.
• These proposed commitments turned in to NDCs as soon as each country formally joined the Paris Agreement.
  • United States: cut economy-wide emissions of greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 percent below its 2005 level by 2025 and make best efforts to reduce its emissions by 28 percent.
  • China: peak carbon emissions no later than 2030, increase non-fossil fuels to 20 percent of the energy mix, and reduce carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 60 to 65 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.
  • India: reduce emissions intensity by 33 to 35 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, increase cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel energy resources to 40 percent by 2030, and create additional carbon sequestration of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.
  • Mexico: cut greenhouse gas and short-lived climate pollutants 25 percent below business-as-usual (BAU) by 2030, implying a reduction of 22 percent for greenhouse gas emissions and 51 percent for black carbon.
  • European Union: reduce emissions to at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 through only domestic measures.
  • Brazil: reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, increasing renewable resources to 45 percent of the energy mix by 2030, and increasing the share of non-hydropower renewables in the electricity mix to 23 percent by 2030.
  • South Korea: reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent from BAU levels by 2030 across all economic sectors.
  • Indonesia: cut emissions by 29 percent from BAU levels by 2030.
  • Japan: reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent from 2013 levels by 2030.
  • Australia: reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Implementation of Climate Change Actions

• Nations have implemented domestic actions to move toward low-carbon economies since the 2009 Copenhagen Accord.
• These actions include renewable energy targets, cap-and-trade programs, and sector-specific policies.
• More than 160 countries now have renewable energy targets and policies.
• China has announced a new set of domestic actions including plans for a national cap-and-trade program.
• Climate policies have been adopted in the vast majority of the world's major economies.
• Countries have realized that it is in their own interest to cut their carbon pollution.
• Domestic climate action produces real benefits for their citizens, including new jobs, reduced poverty, and lower mortality rates.
• As natural disasters increase in frequency and intensity, countries have seen that not addressing climate change has real and lasting consequences.

Addressing Climate Change

• The Paris Agreement puts the world much closer to a safer trajectory and highlights the path forward.
• Before the Copenhagen Accord, it was potentially headed for an increase in global average temperatures of 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by 2100.
• The commitments from the Copenhagen Accord were estimated to bring this temperature increase down to 3.6 degrees Celsius (6.5 degrees Fahrenheit).
• The commitments submitted in advance of the Paris climate summit put the world on a path to a 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 degrees Fahrenheit) temperature rise by the end of the century, closer to the 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) goal.
• This agreement ensures that the national pledges are the floor not the ceiling of ambition.
• It will have five-year reviews under a single global transparency system with flexibility for developing countries.
• The Paris Agreement will spur countries to undertake even deeper cuts before 2030 and mobilize resources to help countries implement even stronger domestic reforms.
• Aggressive climate targets are still within reach if countries enact a virtuous cycle of ever more aggressive climate action.
• It is time to roll up our sleeves to ensure future cycles of climate commitments can become more and more ambitious over time.