The Paris Agreement is an international treaty on climate change, negotiated by 196 parties at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference near Paris and signed in 2016, covering climate change mitigation, adaptation and finance. Its long-term goal is to keep the rise in global average surface temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and preferably to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius, with each country determining, planning and regularly reporting its own contributions rather than facing a mechanism that forces specific emissions targets. As of January 2026, 194 members of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change were parties to the agreement; the United States withdrew from it in 2020, rejoined in 2021, and withdrew again in 2026.
Facts
Key ProvisionNegotiated by 196 parties at COP21 near Paris, adopted 12 December 2015 and opened for signature 22 April 2016; a legally binding international climate treaty operating under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Negotiated under United Nations auspices at COP21 and operating under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
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