Updated December 12, 2023 at 12:20 p.m.
Often referred to as the Paris Climate Accords, the Paris Agreement is an international treaty aimed at forcing countries and companies to change their behavior to reverse climate change. It was signed on December 12, 2015 at the end of the COP21 United Nations Climate Change Conference near the French capital.
Get On This Day In History delivered straight to your inbox ✉️ each day! Sign up here.
Who is part of the Paris Agreement?
The Paris Agreement was negotiated by 196 parties at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, and as of September 2022, 194 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are parties to the agreement. The United States withdrew from the agreement in 2020, but rejoined in 2021.
Does the Paris Agreement really work?
The agreement is thought to be very important by world leaders, but criticized as lacking teeth by some environmentalists, as there is some debate about the effectiveness of the agreement. Still, the Paris Agreement has been successfully used in climate litigation forcing countries and large corporations and oil companies to strengthen climate action.