What is Paris Agreement on Climate Change

• The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty

on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21
in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4
November 2016.
Why Is the Paris Agreement Important? Or created
• Human-generated emissions cause global warming. Carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and
methane are gases that collect in the atmosphere and prevent heat from radiating from
earth’s surface into space, creating the greenhouse effect.
• Global warming threatens climate systems. Hotter temperatures—both on land and at sea
—alter global weather patterns. Those shifting patterns exacerbate dangerous and deadly
drought, heat waves, floods, wildfires, and storms, including hurricanes. They also melt ice
caps, glaciers, and layers of permafrost, which can lead to rising sea levels and coastal
erosion. Warmer temperatures impact whole ecosystems as well, throwing migration
patterns and life cycles out of whack.
• Climate change endangers human health.
• Extreme heat contributes directly to cardiovascular deaths and respiratory disease.
• Changing weather patterns can impact sources of fresh water and food. While drought
creates water scarcity, floods can contaminate drinking water supplies, increasing the risk of
water-borne diseases and illnesses spread by disease-carrying insects, such as mosquitoes.
• Extreme weather and rising seas can destroy homes, public infrastructure, and entire ways of
life—forcing people to move or migrate, displacing whole populations, and increasing the
threat of civil unrest.
Key Objectives
How does Paris peace agreement work

• The Paris Agreement works on a five- year cycle of

increasingly ambitious climate action carried out by
countries. Every five years, each country is
expected to submit an updated national climate
action plan - known as Nationally Determined
Contribution, or NDC.

• In their NDCs, countries communicate actions they

will take to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions
in order to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Countries support one another in Paris Climate agreement
WHAT ARE THE KEY ELEMENTS OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT?

Paris agreement has set countries’ minimum obligations,

implemented mechanisms to spur additional action in
developing countries, supported the most vulnerable
countries in addressing climate change, and established
systems to hold countries to their commitments.
The Paris Agreement includes commitments that go
beyond 2020, Countries’ emissions reduction commitments
reflect their different levels of development and
capabilities. For example, the United States and
European Union have committed to economy-wide
emissions reduction targets , whereas developing
countries and emerging economies have committed to
targets that reflect their level of development and
historic contribution to climate change.
HOW WILL DEVELOPING COUNTRIES BE ASSISTED IN REDUCING EMISSIONS AND
ADAPTING TO THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE?

• Under Green Climate Fund (GCF) $11 billion has been pledged to the GCF from 31 countries,
including a $3 billion pledge from the United States.
• In addition, 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.
• The Paris Agreement further catalyzes action and implementation over time, as developed
countries have 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.
WHAT ARE COUNTRIES’ POST-2020 CLIMATE TARGETS?
United State 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.
EU reduce emissions to at least 40 percent
below 1990 levels by 2030 through only domestic
measures.
Japan Japan: reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent
from 2013 levels by 2030.
Paris Climate Change, A success or Failure; An Analysis

• Paris Agreement does not “solve” climate change, it is a critical inflection point. It brings us much
closer to a safer climate trajectory and creates an ambitious path forward for decades to come.
• Countries have put forth an agreement that helps strengthen national action by ensuring that the current
commitments. The agreement will also help spur greater action by cities, states, provinces, companies,
and financial institutions.
• It will have five-year reviews under a single global transparency system with flexibility for developing
countries that need it. It 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 as outlined in the Paris Agreement.
Which countries are responsible for climate change?
Success and Failure