The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.
The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives. The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework.
The Paris Agreement is a global agreement on climate change which was reached on 12 December 2015 in Paris. The agreement presents an action plan to limit global warming ‘well below’ 2°C. It covers the period from 2020 onwards.
- The main elements of the new Paris Agreement:
- long-term goal: governments agreed to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C
- contributions: before and during the Paris conference countries submitted comprehensive national climate action plans to reduce their emissions
- ambition: governments agreed to communicate every 5 years their contributions to set more ambitious targets
- transparency: they also accepted to report to each other and the public on how well they are doing to implement their targets, to ensure transparency and oversight
- solidarity: the EU and other developed countries will continue to provide climate finance to assist developing countries both to reduce emissions and build resilience to climate change impacts
Climate change is an important global issue affecting everyone. This timeline follows the process of reaching a new global legally binding agreement on climate – the Paris Agreement and its follow-up. It also covers the role of the EU in this process.
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