December 12 in History
2015 – The Paris Agreement relating to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is adopted
Often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, the Paris Agreement, covering climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance, was negotiated by 196 parties at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference near Paris, France. It was opened for signature on April 22, 2016 (Earth Day) at a ceremony in New York, and as of November 2021, 193 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are parties to the agreement. The long-term temperature goal of the Agreement is to keep the rise in mean global temperature to well below 2 °C (3.6 °F) above pre-industrial levels, and preferably limit the increase to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F), recognizing that this would substantially reduce the effects of climate change. It aims to increase the ability of parties to adapt to climate change effects, and mobilize sufficient finance. Under the Agreement, each country must determine, plan, and regularly report on its contributions. No mechanism forces a country to set specific emissions targets, but each target should go beyond previous targets. In contrast to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the distinction between developed and developing countries is blurred, so that the latter also have to submit plans for emission reductions. The Agreement was lauded by world leaders, but criticised as insufficiently binding by some environmentalists and analysts.
-Wikipedia