The Paris Agreement is an international treaty on climate change. It was adopted in 2015 by 196 parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared with pre-industrial levels.

The agreement works differently from earlier treaties. Instead of binding targets set from above, each country submits its own climate plan, called a nationally determined contribution. Countries update these plans every five years. The idea is to ratchet up ambition over time. A global stocktake assesses collective progress.

The Paris Agreement has strengths and weaknesses. It brought nearly every country to the table, which the Kyoto Protocol did not. It is flexible, which encourages participation. But it lacks enforcement. Countries can miss their targets without penalty. Current pledges fall short of the 1.5-degree goal. The treaty provides a framework. Whether it succeeds depends on political will.

Key features

• Limit warming to well below 2°C
• Nationally determined contributions
• Five-year review cycles
• Global stocktake
• No binding enforcement