Paris Agreement

Topic: Climate Change: Causes, Evidence and the Global Response · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Paris Agreement is a climate treaty adopted at COP21 in Paris (France) on 12 December 2015. It is built on the UNFCCC (the main climate treaty, signed in 1992). Its aim is to keep global warming "well below 2 °C" above pre-industrial levels (before about 1850) and to "pursue efforts" to limit it to 1.5 °C. Every country sets its own climate plan (an NDC) and sends a stronger one every five years.

It matters because it is the first climate deal that asks all countries, rich and poor, to act. Since 2015, every COP decision on stocktake, loss and damage and finance has been built on it.

Explanation

Goals and key articles

• In force from 4 November 2016. India ratified it on 2 October 2016 (Gandhi Jayanti). To ratify means to formally accept a treaty.
• Goal (Article 2) has four parts:
• keep warming "well below 2 °C", and aim for 1.5 °C
• help countries adapt (get ready for) climate impacts

• make finance flows (where money goes) match a low-emission path

• Key articles:

Article	Subject	What it does
2	Goal	well below 2 °C; aim for 1.5 °C
4	NDCs	each country sets its own pledge, every 5 years
6	Carbon markets	countries can trade emission cuts (carbon credits)
7	Adaptation	Global Goal on Adaptation; national adaptation plans
8	Loss and damage	recognises harm that cannot be avoided
9	Finance	developed countries give money to developing countries
13	Transparency	Enhanced Transparency Framework: common reporting rules
14	Global Stocktake	joint review of progress every 5 years

How it works: the ratchet cycle

• NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution): each country's own climate plan. It says how much the country will cut emissions and how it will adapt.
• Ratchet mechanism (a ratchet only turns one way):
• every country sends a new NDC every five years
• → each new NDC must be stronger than the last

• → over time, total ambition rises

• Global Stocktake (GST, Article 14): a review every five years of how far the whole world has moved towards the goals.

• countries, the IPCC and other sources share data
• → technical talks are held
• → a political decision names the gaps
• → the result guides the next round of NDCs

• The first GST ended at COP28, Dubai (2023) as decision 1/CMA.5, the "UAE Consensus". It called for "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems", tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 and doubling the yearly rate of energy-efficiency improvement by 2030. The next GST is in 2028.

• Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF, Article 13): every country reports its emissions and progress in the same format. The first Biennial Transparency Reports (reports sent every two years) were due by the end of 2024.

• What is binding: the process (submit, report, review). The targets themselves are not binding. Each country chooses its own.

The principle of fairness: CBDR-RC

• CBDR-RC (Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities): all countries must act. Rich countries polluted first and have more money, so they must do more.
• In Paris this rule is softer than in Kyoto. It applies "in the light of different national circumstances".
• CMA is the meeting of countries that have joined Paris. Its decisions are numbered. For example, 1/CMA.5 is decision 1 of the 5th CMA (Dubai, 2023).

Parts built on Paris since 2015

• Loss and damage is harm from climate change that adaptation cannot prevent.
• COP27, Sharm el-Sheikh (2022): the fund was agreed (decision 2/CP.27).

• COP28, Dubai (2023): the fund was made to work on the first day of the conference.

• Finance:

• Old goal: $100 billion a year by 2020. According to the OECD, it was met only in 2022.

• New goal, COP29 Baku (2024): under the NCQG (New Collective Quantified Goal), developed countries are to take the lead in mobilising at least $300 billion a year by 2035 [7]. This sits inside a wider call to raise all climate finance, from all sources, to $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 [7].

• COP30, Belém (2025): the "Global Mutirão" decision (mutirão is a Portuguese word for a community working together [12]) called for at least tripling adaptation finance by 2035 [10][11]. No fossil-fuel transition roadmap entered the formal text [10].

• USA:
• Its first withdrawal took effect in November 2020.
• It rejoined in 2021.
• It announced a second withdrawal in January 2025, which took effect in January 2026. A withdrawal takes effect one year after notice.

Where it occurs

• Global scope: it applies to all countries that have joined it, not only developed (Annex I) countries as under Kyoto. It works through the UNFCCC and its yearly COPs (Conference of the Parties, the yearly meeting of all UNFCCC member countries).
• Paris, France (COP21, 2015): where it was adopted.
• India:
• Updated NDC: approved by the Union Cabinet and sent to the UNFCCC on 26 August 2022 [1][2]. It aims to:
  • cut the emissions intensity of GDP by 45% by 2030, from the 2005 level [1]. Emissions intensity means emissions for each unit of GDP.
  • reach about 50% of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030 [1]
  • build an extra carbon sink of 2.5–3 billion tonnes of CO₂-equivalent by 2030 through more forest and tree cover [3]. A carbon sink is something that takes carbon out of the air.
  • follow a long-term roadmap to net zero by 2070 [2]. Net zero means a country removes as much greenhouse gas as it emits. India announced this at COP26, Glasgow (2021).

• Progress: India passed 50% non-fossil installed capacity in 2025, five years early [4].

• Dubai, UAE (COP28, 2023): the first Global Stocktake ended here.

• Loss and damage fund: the World Bank is its host and interim trustee for an interim period of four years [6]. A trustee holds and manages the money. The Philippines hosts the fund's Board [5]. It serves places such as small island states (Tuvalu, Maldives) and flood-hit Pakistan (2022).
• Green Climate Fund: set up at COP16, Cancún (Mexico), 2010. Its headquarters is at Songdo, Incheon, South Korea.
• Baku, Azerbaijan (on the Caspian Sea) hosted COP29 (2024), where the NCQG was agreed.
• Belém, Brazil (capital of Pará state, near the mouth of the Amazon River) hosted COP30 (2025), the first COP held in the Amazon [10].
• Antalya, Türkiye (Mediterranean coast) will host COP31 (2026), with Australia leading the negotiations [13]. India has bid to host COP33 (2028), the year of the second GST.

Don't confuse with

• Kyoto Protocol (1997): under Kyoto, only developed (Annex I) countries had to cut emissions. Their targets were fixed from above and legally binding. Under Paris, all countries set their own targets, and only the process is binding.
• UNFCCC (1992): this is the parent treaty. The Paris Agreement is a deal made under it. The COP is the meeting of UNFCCC members. The CMA is the meeting of Paris members.
• Adaptation vs loss and damage: adaptation (Article 7) means getting ready, for example sea walls or drought-proof crops. Loss and damage (Article 8) is the harm that still happens after getting ready.
• "Transition away from" vs "phase-out": the first GST (COP28) said "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems". It did not say phase-out.

Prelims Hooks

• Dates in order: adopted 12 December 2015 → India ratified 2 October 2016 → in force 4 November 2016.
• Article–subject pairs: 2 – temperature goal; 4 – NDCs; 6 – carbon markets; 7 – adaptation; 8 – loss and damage; 9 – finance; 13 – transparency; 14 – Global Stocktake.
• COP–outcome pairs: COP21 Paris – Paris Agreement; COP27 Sharm el-Sheikh – loss and damage fund agreed; COP28 Dubai – first GST ("UAE Consensus"); COP29 Baku – NCQG; COP30 Belém – Global Mutirão.
• Net-zero order (earliest to latest): EU 2050 → China 2060 → India 2070.
• Trap: the NCQG's $300 billion is the core goal that developed countries lead. $1.3 trillion is the wider call from all sources. Both are for 2035 [7].
• Trap: the temperature goal is "well below 2 °C" (the main limit) and "pursue efforts" for 1.5 °C. It is not a binding 1.5 °C limit. Paris binds the process, not the targets.

Mains Points

• Trading strength for reach: Paris swapped Kyoto's binding, top-down targets for universal, self-chosen NDCs.
• Transparency (Article 13) and the five-yearly stocktake–ratchet cycle brought every country in.
• But all current NDCs added together still fall short of 1.5 °C.

• The two US exits (2020 and 2026) show how weak enforcement is (GS-III environment; GS-II international relations).

• The finance gap is the main North–South split:

• The $100 billion goal was met two years late.
• The NCQG's $300 billion is far below India's demand of $1.3 trillion, with $600 billion as grants or grant-like money [9]. India called the sum "paltry" [8] and said the decision was adopted without consensus.

• Adaptation finance will triple only by 2035. So equity (CBDR-RC) and trust remain at the centre of the talks.

• India's position:

• India argues for climate justice: CBDR-RC, finance as grants and a just transition for coal regions. A just transition means moving away from fossil fuels without leaving workers and communities behind.
• India has also done more than its NDC asked, with 50% non-fossil capacity reached in 2025 [4].
• Its net-zero-by-2070 target and its bid to host COP33 support its role as a voice of the Global South.

Related concepts

• Nationally Determined Contributions
• Net zero
• Global Stocktake
• Loss and damage fund
• Green Climate Fund
• New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance
• COP30 Belem (2025)

Read more

• The Paris Agreement and the COPs since: NDCs, stocktake, loss and damage, finance