What the Paris Agreement means for the climate crisis

The adoption of the Paris Agreement on December 12, 2015, marked the beginning of a journey towards limiting the global temperature increase to below 2°C. The agreement is different from its predecessor, the Kyoto Protocol, in several ways. The design of the accord nudged nationally-determined voluntary action towards the climate crisis, keeping into account the economic development and historical responsibility of each party. The mechanism also enabled a ratcheting up of these commitments every few years and taking stock of implementation of existing commitments. The first such stock-taking is scheduled for 2023 and every five years thereafter. The Paris accord kick-started a journey of relentless and collective action towards achieving a global common good, accomplished through diverse, locally appropriate, but carbon-emission reducing actions.