Five Year Commitments to Keep Us Below 2°C

The We Mean Business Coalition argues that current Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) from over 180 countries are insufficient, potentially leading to 2.7°C of warming. To bridge this gap, the author proposes a formal mechanism within the Paris Agreement—specifically referencing Articles 3 and 10—that requires countries to communicate and strengthen their climate commitments every five years starting from 2020. The document warns that a failure to update policy environments every five years will cause government progress to lag behind businesses and investors, increasing risks for the private sector.

• Current national climate action plans, or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) from over 180 countries, are projected to result in 2.7°C of global warming, exceeding the agreed 2°C limit.
• The We Mean Business Coalition proposes specific text for the Paris Agreement to ensure ambition increases every five years, suggesting that parties should progressively strengthen commitments from 2020 onwards based on the global stocktake and available science.
• Failure to implement a five-year policy update cycle around 2020 and thereafter would cause government progress to fall behind that of investors and businesses, while exposing the private sector to higher risks from a warmer world.

APA

Harris, S. (2015). Five Year Commitments to Keep Us Below 2°C. We Mean Business Coalition. https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/blog/five-year-commitments-to-keep-us-below-2c/

Chicago

Harris, Sam. Five Year Commitments to Keep Us Below 2°C. We Mean Business Coalition, 2015. https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/blog/five-year-commitments-to-keep-us-below-2c/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Harris |first1=Sam |title=Five Year Commitments to Keep Us Below 2°C |publisher=We Mean Business Coalition |date=1 December 2015 |url=https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/blog/five-year-commitments-to-keep-us-below-2c/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{harris2015five, author = {Harris, Sam}, title = {{Five Year Commitments to Keep Us Below 2°C}}, publisher = {We Mean Business Coalition}, year = {2015}, month = dec, url = {https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/blog/five-year-commitments-to-keep-us-below-2c/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }