From 30 November to 11 December 2015, France hosted representatives from 196 countries for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, one of the largest and most ambitious global meetings ever organised. The goal was nothing less than a binding and universal agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions to a level that would prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2°C (3.6°F) above the temperature level set before the start of the Industrial Revolution. A proposal by BNP Paribas Asset Management secured a 53% majority at Chevron – it asked the oil giant to ensure that its climate lobby is in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Warmer temperatures, on land and at sea, are changing global weather patterns and changing how and where precipitation falls. These changing patterns aggravate dangerous and deadly droughts, heat waves, floods, wildfires and storms, including hurricanes. They also melt ice caps, glaciers and permafrost layers, which can lead to sea level rise and coastal erosion. Warmer temperatures also affect entire ecosystems and unbalance migration patterns and life cycles. For example, an early spring can make trees and plants bloom before bees and other pollinators appear. While in some regions global warming means longer growing seasons and increased food production, areas already facing water shortages are expected to become drier, creating the potential for drought, crop losses or forest fires. The quality of each country on track to meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement can be continuously monitored online (via the Climate Action Tracker[95] and the Climate Clock).

The objective of the agreement is to reduce global warming described in Article 2, “improving implementation” of the UNFCCC by:[11] Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, legal instruments may be adopted to achieve the objectives of the Convention. For the period 2008-2012, the Kyoto Protocol adopted measures to reduce greenhouse gases in 1997. The scope of the Protocol has been extended until 2020 by the Doha amendment to this Protocol. [61] International agreements are initially signed to signal the intention to comply, but they only become binding through ratification. It may be an act of Parliament or another formal adoption. Different countries have different processes. Former US President Barack Obama used controversial executive powers to ratify the Paris Agreement in 2016. While the broader transparency framework is universal, as is the global inventory to be held every five years, the framework aims to provide “integrated flexibility” to distinguish between the capacities of industrialized and developing countries. . . .