Paris Climate Agreement

The Paris Climate Agreement, also known as the Paris Climate Accords, is an international agreement to mitigate the impact of climate change. The agreement was signed by 195 members of the United Nations at the 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris. Since then, two further countries have signed, but so far only 191 have ratified the agreement. In total, signatories account for 98% of global anthropogenic emissions.

The holdouts on signing or ratifying the deal are Iran, Iraq, Libya, Eritrea, Yemen and South Sudan, all noted oil producers. Turkey became the most recent nation to ratify the agreement, in early October 2021. While former President Trump took the USA out of the accord, they have since returned after successor Joe Biden signed an executive order to do so on his first day in office. 

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global temperature increases this century to 2 degrees Celsius, while also working towards attaining a more ambitious target of 1.5C if possible. All signatories agree to long-term goals to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, reviewed every five years. Major nations also agreed to a financing project to offer developing countries the funding to mitigate climate change, bolster resilience and enhance their ability to adapt to climate impact.