In Paris in 2015, almost 200 countries signed a landmark agreement designed to limit global warming to 1.5C and avoid its worst impacts. But despite some progress in areas like renewable energy, the world has continued to warm at a rapid pace. A recent UN report said the target was likely to be breached in the next few years and that "urgent and stringent" action would be needed to return the world to 1.5C.
The Paris Agreement is at the heart of the international commitment to tackle rising global temperatures. It came into force on 4 November 2016 and saw almost all the nations of the world agree to cut the greenhouse gas emissions which cause global warming. However, the United States - the world's second biggest greenhouse gas emitter - withdrew from the deal in January 2026 under President Donald Trump.
The US also withdrew during Trump's first presidency, but it rejoined in 2021 under his successor President Joe Biden. The only other UN member states outside the Paris agreement are Iran, Libya and Yemen. The Paris Agreement lists a series of commitments: to "pursue efforts" to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, and to keep them "well below" 2.0C above those recorded in pre-industrial times, generally considered to mean the late 19th Century to achieve a balance - known as net zero - between the greenhouse gases that humans put into the atmosphere and the gases that they actively remove, in the second half of this century each country to set its own emission-reduction targets, reviewed every five years to raise ambitions richer countries to help poorer nations by providing funding, known as climate finance, to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy The 1.5C target is generally accepted to refer to a 20-year average rather than a single year.
So, while 2024 was more than 1.5C warmer than pre-industrial times, it did not mean the Paris Agreement threshold has been breached Every 0.1C of warming brings with it greater risks for the planet, such as longer heatwaves, more intense storms and wildfires, according to climate scientists. But a very large body of scientific evidence shows that warming of 2C or more would bring far greater impacts, on top of those felt at 1.5C, UN scientists say. more people being exposed to extreme heat higher sea levels as glaciers and ice sheets melt increased risks to food security in some regions due to more extreme weather greater chances of some climate-sensitive diseases spreading, such as dengue more species being threatened with extinction Some changes could become irreversible if so-called "tipping points" are crossed. It is not clear exactly where these sit, but once these thresholds are passed, changes could accelerate and become irreversible.
These could include the collapse of the Greenland Ice Sheet, warm Atlantic Ocean currents or further loss of the Amazon rainforest. What is net zero and is the UK on track to achieve it? How climate change worsens heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and floods The Paris deal restated a 2009 commitment that richer countries should provide $100bn (£73bn) annually by 2020 to help developing nations deal with the effects of climate change and build greener economies.
Although only $83.3bn was raised in 2020, data from the OECD, external shows the goal was reached in each of the three years after 2022. Almost two-thirds of the money in recent years has gone towards efforts to limit global warming, while around a quarter has been used to help nations adapt to climate change. In 2023, countries agreed for the first time that a fund should be established exclusively for loss and damage.
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