Paris Agreement Temperature Goal

The Paris Agreement seeks to restrain the rise in the world’s average temperature caused by climate change. Its central goal is to keep warming well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

The two-part temperature goal

Under Article 2.1(a), parties aim to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C. The Agreement recognizes that limiting warming to 1.5°C would significantly reduce climate-change risks and impacts.

How the goal should be understood

The 1.5°C objective strengthens the broader well-below-2°C ceiling; the two are not alternative national targets. Both refer to the increase in global average temperature relative to pre-industrial levels, rather than to the temperature of any particular country or year.

How parties pursue it

The temperature goal guides collective action through progressively stronger nationally determined contributions and long-term emissions reduction. Under Article 4, parties seek global peaking of greenhouse-gas emissions as soon as possible, followed by rapid reductions toward a balance between anthropogenic emissions and removals in the second half of the century.

• The Agreement’s implementation reflects equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.
• The global stocktake periodically assesses collective progress toward the Agreement’s long-term goals.