American Geosciences Institute

The current status of the Paris Climate Agreement

October 5, 2016

The Paris Climate Agreement reached the minimum requirements necessary to enter into force this October, four years earlier than the previously anticipated 2020 target. At least 55 nations representing at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions have ratified the agreement, which encourages participating nations to implement practices that ensure global temperatures will not rise more than 2 degrees Celsius over 1850-1900 preindustrial levels.

The latest nations to enter into the agreement are India and the European Union (EU). India ratified the Paris Agreement on October 2 on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. The country’s leaders were originally hesitant to join the Paris Agreement over concerns that rapidly cutting carbon emissions would hurt India’s coal-centered economy. According to the World Resources Institute, India contributes 4.1 percent of total global emissions. The EU voted jointly in favor of the agreement on October 4, but each member nation is responsible for its own contribution under the agreement.

The United States and China each ratified the Agreement just before the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, on September 3. Because the agreement is non-binding, it does not require ratification by a two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate. Instead, the Obama administration is treating it as an executive agreement.

Specific actions to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals vary by country and will be discussed at the upcoming 22nd Conference of Parties (COP 22) in Marrakesh in November 2016.

Sources: European Commission, the Guardian, United Nations