The Paris Agreement is an international treaty under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that sets a shared long‑term aim to curb human‑caused climate change. Adopted at the UN climate conference in Paris, the agreement calls for holding the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre‑industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. It also establishes a structure for countries to plan, report and strengthen their emissions reductions and resilience efforts over time.

Key features

  • Nationally determined contributions (NDCs): Each country submits its own climate commitment describing mitigation and adaptation actions and is expected to update these periodically to increase ambition.
  • Transparency and accountability: A common reporting and review system aims to track progress and build trust among parties.
  • Global stocktake: Every five years a collective assessment reviews progress toward the long‑term goals and informs stronger future NDCs.
  • Climate finance and support: Developed and other parties are encouraged to mobilize financial resources, technology transfer and capacity building to help vulnerable countries adapt and reduce emissions.
  • Adaptation, loss and damage: The agreement recognizes the need for adaptation planning and addresses harms that arise from climate impacts (adaptation and resilience).

Legally, the Paris Agreement blends binding procedural commitments (for example, to prepare and report NDCs and participate in the transparency framework) with non‑binding national targets for emissions reductions. It relies on a ‘‘ratchet mechanism’’: parties are expected to submit progressively more ambitious NDCs in successive cycles so that collective ambition can rise over time. The agreement also creates mechanisms for voluntary cooperation between countries, including provisions to facilitate international carbon‑market approaches.

History and status

The accord was negotiated at the UN climate conference held in Paris and adopted in December 2015; it was opened for signature in 2016 and entered into force when a sufficient number of parties ratified it later that year. The Paris Agreement secured unusually broad participation: virtually every country in the world has become a party or signaled intention to join, making it the central multilateral framework for global climate policy. The agreement builds on earlier UNFCCC work while shifting emphasis to nationally determined action and regular global review.

Since its adoption, countries have used the Paris framework to update domestic laws, set net‑zero targets, design carbon pricing or emissions trading systems, and direct public and private finance toward clean energy, efficiency and adaptation measures. Article 6, which addresses international cooperation and carbon markets, has been the focus of detailed rulemaking to enable cross‑border emissions trading and crediting.

Critics note that the agreement does not prescribe uniform binding emissions limits and that current national pledges are collectively inadequate to guarantee the 1.5°C or even the well‑below‑2°C outcome. Supporters argue it provides a durable diplomatic and technical architecture—periodic transparency, finance commitments and a five‑year review—that can drive increasing ambition and coordinated action. The Paris Agreement remains the primary global instrument guiding national policy, international finance flows and corporate climate commitments as the world seeks to manage risks from a changing climate. See also the original negotiations in Paris for historical context.