Global climate targets
The Paris Agreement and the 1.5°C Target
In 2015, governments adopted the Paris Climate Agreement, committing to “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.” This marked a significant step beyond the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, which aimed to keep global warming below 2°C while agreeing to consider a 1.5°C target by 2015.
The Paris Agreement strengthened this goal by adding “well below” to the 2°C target and explicitly linking it to the 1.5°C threshold. However, this wording led to some ambiguity, with some decision-makers interpreting it as a choice between 1.5°C and well below 2°C. Others viewed the targets as complementary, allowing for a temporary overshoot of 1.5°C before stabilizing at that level by 2100.
This interpretation has now been reaffirmed by key international agreements. The COP27 summit (November 2022), the G20 Leaders' Summit in Bali, and the G7 Leaders' Summit in Schloss Elmau all explicitly committed to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C.