The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change that was adopted by 196 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France, on December 12, 2015.
It entered into force on 4 November 2016, and marked a landmark moment in the multilateral climate change process because for the first time it brought together all nations under a binding agreement to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.
The overarching goal of the Paris Agreement is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
As part of the agreement, Parties are expected to “achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century” – setting off dialogue on ‘net-zero’ emissions.
The operational details for the practical implementation of the Paris Agreement were agreed on at the UNFCCC’s COP24 in Katowice, Poland, in December 2018, in what is colloquially called the Paris Rulebook, and finalized at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021.
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Photograph (top):
Taken during the opening day of Paris Climate Change Conference (COP21), 30th November 2015. In Picture, World Leaders attending the COP21 Climate Conference.
Photograph (bottom):
Taken during the final day of the Paris Climate Change Conference (COP21), 12th December 2015. Left to Right: Christiana Figueres (Executive Secretary, UNFCCC at the time), Ban Ki-moon (Secretary-General, UN at the time) & Laurent Fabius (President, COP 21)
The Paris Agreement has a bottom-up structure, allowing countries to set their own 'Nationally Determined Contribution' (NDCs aka Climate Action Plan) rather than having targets imposed top-down.
It works on a five- year cycle of increasingly ambitious climate action carried out by countries.
At its heart, it progresses through a system of NDC and Global Stocktake.
The Agreement also encourages member Parties to form long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies (increasing released as National Net-Zero Plans).
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Photograph (top):
Taken on the opening day of Bonn Climate Change Conference, 3rd June 2024. In Photo: Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) addressing negotiators from around the world six months before the Baku Climate Change Conference (COP29) to be held in Azerbaijan later in the same year between 11th–22nd November 2024. Bonn aimed to build momentum towards key decisions that are needed in Baku, particularly agreeing a new climate finance goal.
A NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) is a national climate action plan publicly committed by member countries - communicating actions they will take post-2020 to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to reach Paris Agreement goals
Member countries also communicate actions they propose to take to build resilience to adapt to the impacts of rising temperatures, through the NDCs.
Parties were requested to submit their NDCs (new/updated) by 2020 and every an increasingly ambitious update five years thereafter (e.g. by 2020, 2025, 2030).
Parties can adjust their NDCs at any time to enhance ambition.
All NDCs communicated by Parties are maintained in a public registry by the UNFCCC secretariat.
NDCs are further complimented by a 5 yearly ‘Global Stocktake’ (GST) process where Parties take stock of the implementation of the Paris Agreement to assess the collective progress towards achieving its the purpose and long-term goals.
The Stocktake process takes 2 years and involves reviewing information available, undertaking a technical assessment and then moving to consider actions, decisions and pathways.
The outcomes of the stocktake are intended to inform countries in updating and enhancing their climate actions and support (NDCs), as well as in strengthening international cooperation for climate action. This will guide the preparation of new nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in 2025.
The first-ever stocktake concluded in 2023 at COP28.
The first stocktake that concluded in 2023 found significant gaps in global climate action and emphasized the urgent need for stronger and more ambitious efforts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
Its findings were outlined in the technical report published in September 2023.
It provided a roadmap for transformative changes across key sectors to reduce emissions and build resilience.
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Photographs:
Taken on 31st October 2023 at Pre-COP28 (Abu Dhabi) for Global Stocktake, prior to Dubai Climate Change Conference (COP28) which officially began on 30th November 2023, following the Global Stocktake.
India signed the Paris Agreement on April 22, 2016, and ratified it on October 2, 2016.
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Photograph:
Taken at the UN Headquarters, 2 October 2016.
Left to Right: Syed Akbaruddin (India's Permanent Representative to the UN), Peter Thomson (General Assembly President at the time) & Jan Eliasson (UN Deputy Secretary-General at the time).
India submitted its ‘Intended’ Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) on October 2, 2015. It was prior to the commencement of COP21 held in December 2015.
Through its INDC, India committed to:
- To put forward and further propagate a healthy and sustainable way of living based on traditions and values of conservation and moderation.
- To adopt a climate friendly and a cleaner path than the one followed hitherto by others at corresponding level of economic development.
- To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35% by 2030 from 2005 level.
- To achieve about 40% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030 with the help of transfer of technology and low cost international finance including from Green Climate Fund (GCF).
- To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
- To better adapt to climate change by enhancing investments in development programmes in sectors vulnerable to climate change, particularly agriculture, water resources, Himalayan region, coastal regions, health and disaster management.
- To mobilize domestic and new/additional funds from developed countries to implement the above mitigation and adaptation actions in view of the resource required and the resource gap.
- To build capacities, create domestic framework and international architecture for quick diffusion of cutting-edge climate technology in India and for joint collaborative R&D for such future technologies.
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Photograph (top):
Taken during the opening day of Paris Climate Change Conference (COP21) in France, 30th November 2015. In Photo: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is in this speech that he, on behalf of India, for the first-time presented, India’s intended climate ambition/plan under Paris Agreement, should it go through. He called the climate crisis a consequence “of the industrial age powered by fossil fuel, especially on the lives of the poor”.
India updated its NDC in August 2022 as a step forward towards India’s long term goal of reaching net-zero by 2070.
- To put forward and further propagate a healthy and sustainable way of living based on traditions and values of conservation and moderation, including through a mass movement for ‘LIFE’– ‘Lifestyle for Environment’ as a key to combating climate change
(UPDATED).
- To adopt a climate friendly and a cleaner path than the one followed hitherto by others at corresponding level of economic development.
- To reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030, from 2005 level
(UPDATED).
- To achieve about 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030, with the help of transfer of technology and low-cost international finance including from Green Climate Fund (GCF)
(UPDATED).
- To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
- To better adapt to climate change by enhancing investments in development programmes in sectors vulnerable to climate change, particularly agriculture, water resources, Himalayan region, coastal regions, health and disaster management.
- To mobilize domestic and new/additional funds from developed countries to implement the above mitigation and adaptation actions in view of the resource required and the resource gap.
- To build capacities, create domestic framework and international architecture for quick diffusion of cutting-edge climate technology in India and for joint collaborative R&D for such future technologies.
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Photograph (top):
Taken during the opening day of Glasgow Climate Change Conference (COP26) in UK, 1st November 2021. In Photo: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is in this speech that he, on behalf of India, for the first-time announced India’s net zero target of 2070.
Photograph (bottom):
Taken during at Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt, 7th November 2022. In Photo: India’s Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupendra Yadav at the UN Secretary-General High-Level Round Table to launch the Early Warnings for All Executive Action Plan, a year after India’s updated NDC was released.
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