On 12 December 2015, the participating 196 countries agreed, by consensus, to the final global pact, the
Paris Agreement, to reduce emissions as part of the method for reducing greenhouse gas. In the 12-page document, In the course of the debates, island states of the Pacific, the Seychelles, but also the Philippines, their very existence threatened by sea level rise, had strongly voted for setting a goal of 1.5 °C instead of only 2 °C. France's Foreign Minister,
Laurent Fabius, said this "ambitious and balanced" plan was an "historic turning point" in the goal of reducing global warming. However, some others criticized the fact that significant sections are "promises" or aims and not firm commitments by the countries. COP 21 also adopted Decisions 16-18/CP.21, which complement the
Warsaw Framework on REDD-plus by adding guidance on alternative policy approaches, non-carbon benefits, and safeguards-related matters for
REDD+ (
see Cancún safeguards). On 4th June 2024, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) opened in Dubai, marking an important event in the timeline of the Paris Agreement. The conference concluded the global stocktake, a process evaluating the progress made on the Paris Agreement. The assessment exposed that the current attempts are insufficient to limit the global warming to the target of 1.5°C, highlighting the need for accelerated climate action. There were strong emphases on the need for more climate finance and collaboration to reach climate goals during the conference.
Non-binding commitments, lack of enforcement mechanisms The Agreement will not become binding on its member states until 55 parties who produce over 55% of the world's greenhouse gas have ratified the Agreement. There is doubt whether some countries, especially the United States, will agree to do so, though the United States publicly committed, in a joint Presidential Statement with China, to joining the Agreement in 2016. a country to set a target by a specific date nor enforcement measures if a set target is not met. There will be only a "name and shame" system or, as
János Pásztor, the U.N. assistant secretary-general on climate change, told
CBS News, a "name and encourage" plan. Some analysts have also observed that the stated objectives of the Paris Agreement are implicitly "predicated upon an assumption – that
member states of the United Nations, including high polluters such as China, US, India, Canada, Russia, Indonesia and Australia, which generate more than half the world's greenhouse gas emissions, will somehow drive down their carbon pollution voluntarily and assiduously without any binding enforcement mechanism to measure and control CO2 emissions at any level from factory to state, and without any specific penalty gradation or fiscal pressure (for example a
carbon tax) to discourage bad behaviour."
Institutional investors' contribution to limiting fossil fuels Speaking at the
5th annual World Pensions Forum held on the sidelines of the COP21 Summit,
Earth Institute Director
Jeffrey Sachs argued that
institutional investors would eventually divest from carbon-reliant firms if they could not react to political and regulatory efforts to halt climate change: "Every energy company in a
pension fund's portfolio needs to be scrutinized from purely a financial view about its future, 'Why is this [a company] we would want to hold over a five- to 20-year period?'... If we continue to hold major energy companies that don't have an answer to a basic financial test, we are just gambling. We have to take a
fiduciary responsibility – these are not good bets." Some US policy makers concurred, notably
Al Gore, insisting that "no agreement is perfect, and this one must be strengthened over time, but groups across every sector of society will now begin to reduce dangerous carbon pollution through the framework of this agreement." ==Declarations of non-state parties==