Former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (second left), Former Executive Director of UNFCCC - Christiana Figueres (left),
Former Foreign Minister of France and President of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21) - Laurent Fabius,
and Former President of France - François Hollande (right), celebrate historic adoption of Paris Agreement. UNFCCC
Climate change is a global emergency that goes beyond national borders. It is an issue that requires coordinated
solutions at all levels and international cooperation to help countries move toward a low-carbon economy.
To tackle climate change and its negative impacts, 197 countries adopted the Paris Agreement at the COP21 in Paris on 12 December 2015. Entered into force less than a year later, the deal aims to substantially reduce global greenhouse
gas emissions and to limit the global temperature increase in this century to 2 degrees Celsius while pursuing means to
limit the increase even further to 1.5 degrees.
Today, 189 countries have joined the Paris Agreement.
The agreement includes commitments from all countries to reduce their emissions and work together to adapt to the
impacts of climate change and calls on countries to strengthen their commitments over time. The Agreement provides a
pathway for developed nations to assist developing nations in their climate mitigation and adaptation efforts while
creating a framework for the transparent monitoring and reporting of countries’ climate goals.
The Paris Agreement provides a durable framework guiding the global effort for decades to come. The aim is to raise
countries’ climate ambition over time. To promote this, the agreement establishes two review processes, each on a
five-year cycle.
The Paris Agreement marks the beginning of a shift towards a low-carbon world-- there is much more to do. Implementation
of the Agreement is essential for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals as it provides a roadmap for
climate actions that will reduce emissions and build climate resilience.Key elements of the Paris AgreementTo keep global temperatures well below 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times while pursuing means to limit the increase
to 1.5C.To review countries’ contribution to cutting emissions every five yearsTo help poorer nations by providing climate finance to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energyRatification
The Paris Agreement formally entered into force on 4 November 2016. Other countries have continued to become parties to
the Agreement as they complete their national approval procedures. To this date, 195 Parties have signed and 189 have
ratified the Agreement. Further information related to the Paris Agreement and the ratification status can be found here.
In 2018, delegates to COP 24, which was hosted in Katowice, Poland, adopted a comprehensive rulebook, fleshing out the operational details of the Paris Agreement.