Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris on Saturday approved a global agreement on climate change. They agreed to

• Hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels
• Reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible so as to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century
• Implement and support reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
• establish the global goal on adaptation of enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change

Each Party shall communicate a nationally determined contribution every five years and be informed by the outcomes of the global stocktake.

Developed country Parties shall provide financial resources to assist developing country Parties with respect to both mitigation and adaptation

Accelerating, encouraging and enabling innovation is critical for an effective, long-term global response to climate change and promoting economic growth and sustainable development.

Parties shall cooperate in taking measures to enhance climate change education, training, public awareness, public participation and public access to information.

In order to build mutual trust and confidence and to promote effective implementation, an enhanced transparency framework for action and support, with built-in flexibility which takes into account Parties’ different capacities and builds upon collective experience is hereby established.

Each Party shall regularly provide the following information:

• A national inventory report of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases, prepared using good practice methodologies accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• Information necessary to track progress made in implementing and achieving its nationally determined contribution.

The Parties to the Paris Agreement shall periodically take stock of the implementation of this Agreement to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of this Agreement and its long-term goals (referred to as the “global stocktake”).  The Parties shall undertake its first global stocktake in 2023 and every five years thereafter.

This Agreement shall be open for signature and subject to ratification, acceptance or approval by States and regional economic integration organizations that are Parties to the Convention.

This Agreement shall enter into force after at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55 percent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

At any time after three years from the date on which this Agreement has entered into force for a Party, that Party may withdraw from this Agreement by giving written notification to the Depositary.