22 November 2016: Since the Paris Agreement entered into force on 4 November 2016, an additional 12 Parties to the UNFCCC have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession to the Paris Agreement, bringing the total number of Parties that have joined the Agreement to 113. The UNFCCC, which is a nearly universal treaty, has 197 Parties.

Many of these most recent deposits came as the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP) was meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, for its 22nd session (7-18 November), which was also its first session since the COP adopted the Paris Agreement in December 2015. The 12 most recent Parties to join the Agreement are: Australia (9 November); Botswana (11 November); Burkina Faso (11 November); Djibouti (11 November); Finland (14 November); The Gambia (7 November); Israel (22 November); Italy (11 November); Japan (8 November); Malaysia (16 November); Pakistan (10 November); and the UK (18 November).

On 5 October 2016, at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55% of the total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions had deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession to the Paris Agreement with the UN depositary, in New York, US, allowing it to enter into force 30 days later. As a result, the first session of the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1) also convened in Marrakech.

Under the Paris Agreement, Parties will make nationally determined contributions (NDCs) outlining their climate change targets. Each successive NDC is expected to be at least as ambitious as the Party’s previous one. Through these national pledges, Parties aim to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.

The Paris Agreement is also expected to contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 (Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts). [UNFCCC Paris Agreement Webpage] [UNFCCC Paris Agreement – Status of Ratification Webpage] [UN Treaty Collection Paris Agreement Webpage] [IISD RS Story on Entry into Force] [IISD RS Coverage of Marrakech Climate Change Conference]