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The Paris Agreement sets forth a new international legal regime aimed at strengthening the global response to climate change. It was adopted in December 2015 at the annual gathering of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Paris Agreement sits within and implements the Convention.

The much awaited and intensely negotiated Paris Agreement was adopted on 12 December 2015 by the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The agreement set out a more ambitious long-term temperature goal than many had anticipated, implying more stringent emissions reductions that have been under-explored by the research community. By its very nature a multidisciplinary challenge, filling the knowledge gap requires not only climate scientists, but the whole Earth system science community, as well as economists, engineers, lawyers, philosophers, politicians, emergency planners and others to step up. To kick start cross-disciplinary discussions, the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute focused its 25th anniversary conference upon meeting the challenges of the Paris Agreement for science and society. This theme issue consists of review papers, opinion pieces and original research from some of the presentations within that meeting, covering a wide range of issues underpinning the Paris Agreement. This article is part of the theme issue 'The Paris Agreement: understanding the physical and social challenges for a warming world of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels'.

(Published: November 2016)Citation: Ø. Ravna. ''The Paris Agreement Enters into Force.'' Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2016, p. 205. http://dx.doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v7.584

(Published: November 2016)Citation: Ø. Ravna. ''The Paris Agreement Enters into Force.'' Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2016, p. 205. http://dx.doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v7.584

The twenty-first session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP21) was convened in Le Bourget Paris in the frame of the Paris Climate Change Conference, hosting the largest number of participants ever seen, including 20.000 government/parties representatives, 8.000 IGOs/NGOs observers, and 3.000 media. During the first days of the negotiations, for the first time in history, 150 heads of state meet together under the same roof to give the clear and unequivocal signal that climate change is a real and unprecedented challenge for humanity, which requires an unprecedented and urgent global action, based on the collaboration and contribution of all countries. On the 12 December 2016, after two weeks of intense negotiations, one day after the expected end-date, the Decision FCCC/CP/2015/L.9/Rev.1, including the annex with the Paris Agreement, has been approved by the 196 Parties by consensus. The approved document includes the Decision of 20 pages, and the Paris Agreement of 12 pages, this in order to facilitate approval of the agreement by governments without requiring the ratification by national parliaments, which would have been practical impossible in some countries i.e. United States of America. The Paris Agreement is a universal and legally binding agreement, providing a solid architecture and ambitious targets, coordinating and mainstreaming action to face climate change challenge globally. The Decision, which is non-legally binding, contains fundamental provisions and a clear work plan/timeline to put flash on bones on the Paris Agreement itself, particularly enhancing action prior to 2020.

The twenty-first session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP21) was convened in Le Bourget Paris in the frame of the Paris Climate Change Conference, hosting the largest number of participants ever seen, including 20.000 government/parties representatives, 8.000 IGOs/NGOs observers, and 3.000 media. During the first days of the negotiations, for the first time in history, 150 heads of state meet together under the same roof to give the clear and unequivocal signal that climate change is a real and unprecedented challenge for humanity, which requires an unprecedented and urgent global action, based on the collaboration and contribution of all countries. On the 12 December 2016, after two weeks of intense negotiations, one day after the expected end-date, the Decision FCCC/CP/2015/L.9/Rev.1, including the annex with the Paris Agreement, has been approved by the 196 Parties by consensus. The approved document includes the Decision of 20 pages, and the Paris Agreement of 12 pages, this in order to facilitate approval of the agreement by governments without requiring the ratification by national parliaments, which would have been practical impossible in some countries i.e. United States of America. The Paris Agreement is a universal and legally binding agreement, providing a solid architecture and ambitious targets, coordinating and mainstreaming action to face climate change challenge globally. The Decision, which is non-legally binding, contains fundamental provisions and a clear work plan/timeline to put flash on bones on the Paris Agreement itself, particularly enhancing action prior to 2020.

After a decade of negotiation, countries adopted a new, legally binding agreement on climate change. Excitement for a new era in the climate regime is palpable among pundits and policy makers alike. But such enthusiasm largely overlooks that most of the Paris Agreement's provisions represent continuity with existing climate policy, not a break with the past. This forum argues that the Paris Agreement is a dangerous form of incrementalism in two ways. First, it repackages existing rules that have already proven inadequate to reduce emissions and improve resilience. Second, state and nonstate actors celebrate the Agreement as a solution, conferring legitimacy on its rules; I suggest that, beyond the strong desire to avoid failure, developing countries and nongovernmental organizations accepted the Paris Agreement to secure the participation of the United States and to uphold previous agreements. Given the reification of existing rules, the ratchet-up mechanism and nonstate actors offer the last remaining hopes in global efforts to catalyze climate action on a scale necessary to safeguard the climate.