More than 195 countries will convene from November 30 to December 11 at the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties at the 2015 UN Conference on Climate Change (COP-21). The top goal of the conference, also known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, is the signing of a universal agreement on how to keep global warming less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels. (The Copenhagen Accord, an outcome of COP-15, stated that the goal of limiting average global temperatures to 2°C above pre-industrial levels was paramount to keeping the risk of severe climate-related global consequences at bay, although no agreement was reached on how to realize the goal.)
Much of the work to secure an agreement has been accomplished over the past year, as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has hosted three meetings to hammer out a draft negotiating text for COP-21. In advance of the Paris meeting, countries that are parties to COP-21 are submitting climate action plans, known officially as Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC).
The U.S. submitted its INDC on March 31. It states an intention to achieve an economy-wide target of reducing the country’s green house gas emissions by 17 percent below the 2005 level by 2020. A Paris agreement would go into effect in 2020, although recent reports indicate such an agreement may also include energy goals out to 2050 or beyond.