Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, governments and economic actors have increasingly been setting greenhouse gas emissions reduction or net-zero targets. Amidst risks of delayed action and greenwashing, there is need to understand whether climate-related targets and transition plans are consistent with the Paris Agreement.

Accountability is essential for global climate action and governance. The issue brief analyses the existing transparency and compliance mechanism under the Paris Agreement. Further, it discusses the challenges in ownership of targets and obligations under climate agreements amongst member countries.

In order to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement, it is essential to rapidly move from a zero-sum offsetting approach towards rapid transitions to decarbonise all emitting sectors.

With signing of the Paris Agreement, countries pledged to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to adapt to the impacts of climate change. By scaling up renewable energy, countries can sharply reduce one major source of the problem: energy-related CO2 emissions.

The recent wave of net zero targets has put the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C within striking distance. In this briefing, the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) has calculated that global warming by 2100 could be as low as 2.1°C as a result of all the net zero pledges announced as of November 2020.

The end of 2020 marks a fundamental change in the global governance of greenhouse gas emissions with the shift from the Kyoto Protocol era to that of the Paris Agreement. This has important implications for the future role and the feasible models of the voluntary carbon market.

This report updates and extends PBO’s analysis of the additional carbon pricing needed to achieve Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions target in 2030 under the Paris Agreement. Under the Paris Agreement, Canada has committed to reduce its GHG emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to exact a tragic toll on lives and livelihoods and will greatly impact global energy use in the near term. Energy demand will fall 8% this year, and with a slow recovery, our whole energy demand forecast is rebased downwards by 8% relative to our previous forecast through to 2050.

While national emission trends are a useful tool for measuring government progress towards meeting the Paris Agreement 1.5˚C temperature limit at a global level, each government will have to address its own sectors, each with their own, different baseline. What should government sectoral benchmarks be? Will they meet the global carbon budget?

The Paris Agreement Compatible (PAC) scenario illustrates a pathway for the transition of the EU’s energy system that is in line with EU leaders’ commitment to the Paris Agreement.