The Paris Agreement: Resolving the inconsistency between global goals and national contributions

The document notes that current intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) are insufficient to meet the Paris Agreement's goals of limiting global temperature increases to well below 2°C or 1.5°C. However, it identifies several reasons for optimism: many contributions are conservative and may be overachieved, the INDC process has advanced national policy-making (especially in developing countries), and the Agreement mandates regular updates to strengthen actions. Additionally, the document highlights that non-state actions are not yet fully captured in INDCs and that faster-than-expected decarbonization in certain sectors suggests a broader transition is possible.

• The combined intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) currently fail to align with the Paris Agreement's objectives of limiting the global average temperature increase to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts toward 1.5°C.
• Several factors suggest the gap between national contributions and global goals can be closed, including the conservative nature of some INDCs, the advancement of national climate policy-making in developing countries, and the requirement for countries to regularly update and strengthen their actions.
• Current INDCs do not adequately account for the significant volume of non-state actions, and rapid decarbonization in specific sectors provides a positive precedent for other sectors.

APA

Höhne, N., Kuramochi, T., Warnecke, C., Röser, F., Fekete, H., Hagemann, M., Day, T., Kurdziel, M., & Gonzales, S. (2016). The Paris Agreement: Resolving the inconsistency between global goals and national contributions. NewClimate Institute. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/the-paris-agreement-resolving-the-inconsistency-between-global-goals-and

Chicago

Höhne, Niklas, Takeshi Kuramochi, Carsten Warnecke, Frauke Röser, Hanna Fekete, Markus Hagemann, Thomas Day, Marie Kurdziel, and Sofia Gonzales. The Paris Agreement: Resolving the inconsistency between global goals and national contributions. NewClimate Institute, 2016. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/the-paris-agreement-resolving-the-inconsistency-between-global-goals-and.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Höhne |first1=Niklas |last2=Kuramochi |first2=Takeshi |last3=Warnecke |first3=Carsten |last4=Röser |first4=Frauke |last5=Fekete |first5=Hanna |last6=Hagemann |first6=Markus |last7=Day |first7=Thomas |last8=Kurdziel |first8=Marie |last9=Gonzales |first9=Sofia |title=The Paris Agreement: Resolving the inconsistency between global goals and national contributions |publisher=NewClimate Institute |date=2 November 2016 |url=http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/the-paris-agreement-resolving-the-inconsistency-between-global-goals-and |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hhne2016paris, author = {Höhne, Niklas and Kuramochi, Takeshi and Warnecke, Carsten and Röser, Frauke and Fekete, Hanna and Hagemann, Markus and Day, Thomas and Kurdziel, Marie and Gonzales, Sofia}, title = {{The Paris Agreement: Resolving the inconsistency between global goals and national contributions}}, institution = {NewClimate Institute}, year = {2016}, month = nov, url = {http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/the-paris-agreement-resolving-the-inconsistency-between-global-goals-and}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }