6 Functions for the International Climate Agreement

The World Resources Institute outlines six key functions for the 2015 international climate agreement: providing a strong signal for decarbonization, connecting climate goals to national economic priorities, ensuring transparency and accountability, accelerating low-carbon investment, ensuring fairness through equity indicators, and supporting resilience and adaptation for vulnerable populations.

• The agreement should signal the inevitability and speed of the transition to a low-carbon economy to prompt public and private sector decarbonization. This can be achieved through strong short-term emissions-reduction targets (e.g., for 2025 or 2030), a long-term goal consistent with limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius—such as a complete phase-out of net greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century—and an architecture allowing for regular reviews and ambition increases.
• To bridge the gap between international goals and the 'real economy,' the agreement should integrate with national development and economic priorities. This includes complementing emissions targets with specific policy commitments such as increasing energy efficiency, increasing renewable energy, or phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.
• Transparency and accountability are necessary to allow governments, civil society, and the private sector to monitor commitments. The document suggests different rules and metrics for emissions-reduction targets versus policy commitments, and a more effective verification and review mechanism to address countries failing to meet goals.
• The agreement must accelerate investment in climate-resilient and low-carbon projects by capitalizing the Green Climate Fund, finding new funding sources, and aligning financial institutions with climate-resilient initiatives.
• To ensure global cooperation, the agreement must be perceived as fair and equitable, which could be achieved by using a set of agreed-upon 'equity indicators' to evaluate the emissions-reduction plans of all countries.
• The agreement should support vulnerable populations in adapting to climate impacts by providing necessary technology, capacity, and finance. Proposed mechanisms include adaptation-specific finance objectives linked to mitigation levels and new insurance mechanisms for loss and damage.

APA

Morgan, J. (2014). 6 Functions for the International Climate Agreement. World Resources Institute. https://www.wri.org/insights/6-functions-international-climate-agreement

Chicago

Morgan, Jennifer. 6 Functions for the International Climate Agreement. World Resources Institute, 2014. https://www.wri.org/insights/6-functions-international-climate-agreement.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Morgan |first1=Jennifer |title=6 Functions for the International Climate Agreement |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=17 March 2014 |url=https://www.wri.org/insights/6-functions-international-climate-agreement |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{morgan2014functions, author = {Morgan, Jennifer}, title = {{6 Functions for the International Climate Agreement}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2014}, month = mar, url = {https://www.wri.org/insights/6-functions-international-climate-agreement}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }