Paris Agreement
UNclimatechange (UNFCCC) via Wikimedia Commons
Adopted by: United Nations (adopted under the UNFCCC, at COP21) · Kind: Binding treaty · Scope: Universal · Adopted: 2015
Adopted under the UN climate convention at COP21 in December 2015 and in force within a year, the Paris Agreement was the first binding climate agreement to bring all nations into a single framework. Its overarching goal is to hold the rise in global average temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5. Each country sets out its own plan, a Nationally Determined Contribution covering both emissions cuts and adaptation, on a five-year cycle in which each round is meant to be more ambitious than the last. Progress is checked collectively through a transparency framework and a periodic Global Stocktake, and developed countries are expected to lead in financing and equipping those with fewer resources.
The Paris Agreement was adopted at COP21 on 12 December 2015 under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and entered into force on 4 November 2016. It was adopted by 195 Parties and came into force in under a year, unusually fast for a treaty of this scope and a measure of the urgency behind it. The UNFCCC secretariat's own count, checked when this archive was built, records 194 Parties as of 27 January 2026.
For the first time one binding agreement brought all nations together on climate around a single shared temperature limit. Its overarching goal is to hold the rise in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees, the threshold past which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns of far more severe impacts.
The mechanism is a five-year cycle rather than a fixed schedule of cuts. Each country submits a Nationally Determined Contribution, which is its own climate action plan, and each successive contribution is meant to be more ambitious than the last and never weaker. Those plans must cover both mitigation, meaning reducing emissions, and adaptation, meaning building resilience to impacts already under way. Countries are additionally invited, though not required, to submit long-term low-emission development strategies that set their contributions in a longer horizon.
Support is expected to flow from those most able to those most in need. Developed countries are expected to lead in providing financial assistance to less-resourced and more vulnerable countries, covering both mitigation and adaptation finance, with other Parties encouraged to contribute voluntarily. Money alone is not treated as sufficient: a dedicated Technology Framework and an emphasis on capacity-building exist because financial support does not close the gap for countries that lack the technical means to act.
Progress is checked collectively rather than left to each country's own account. An Enhanced Transparency Framework requires countries to report on their actions and on support given or received, and that reporting feeds a periodic Global Stocktake which assesses whether the world as a whole is on track. The result of the stocktake then feeds into the next, more ambitious round of national contributions. The complete text is published by the UNFCCC.
Key provisions · 7 provisions
Principle 1
The Agreement sets one shared, binding goal to hold global average temperature rise well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.
temperature-goal · binding-target
Principle 2
Each country must submit a national climate action plan on a five-year cycle, and each successive plan must be more ambitious than the last, never weaker.
ratchet-mechanism · ambition
Principle 3
Every country's national climate plan must address both cutting emissions and building resilience to climate impacts already underway.
mitigation · adaptation
Principle 4
Countries are invited, though not required, to submit long-term low-emission development strategies that place their near-term plans in a longer horizon.
long-term-strategy · voluntary
Principle 5
Developed countries are expected to lead in providing financial assistance to less-resourced, more vulnerable countries, covering both mitigation and adaptation, with other parties contributing voluntarily.
climate-finance · developed-countries
Principle 6
Technology and capacity-building must be actively transferred to countries that lack the technical means to act, not merely funded.
technology-transfer · capacity-building
Principle 7
Countries must report on their climate actions and support given or received, feeding into a periodic collective assessment of whether the world is on track, which in turn informs the next round of more ambitious plans.
transparency · global-stocktake