Paris Agreement

Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Convention was adopted on December 2015 in Paris, France, at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC. The Convention, which was adopted by 196 Parties to the UNFCCC, entered into force on 4 November 2016. In May 2018 it had 195 signatories and was ratified by 177 parties. One of the objectives of the Paris Accord is to “maintain the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to continue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”, recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. The agreement also aims to strengthen countries’ capacity to deal with the effects of climate change. The Paris Accord is expected to become fully effective in 2020.

Reference:

IPCC, 2018: Annex I: Glossary [Matthews, J.B.R. (ed.)]. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, H.-O. Pörtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.)]. In Press