*Originally published in 2025 and preserved as part of our archive project.Get E-International Relations delivered directly to your inbox, free of charge. As you sign up, consider becoming a paid subscriber to support our work.

Believe it or not, we are approaching the 10-year anniversary of the drafting of the Paris Agreement, the landmark international treaty on climate change. The agreement was negotiated at COP21 in Paris between 30th November and 12th December 2015, and with COP30 now approaching (only the 9th COP since 2015 due to Covid preventing it in 2020) now would seem a good time to pick out some of the most important themes from the last ten years of countries implementing their climate goals, in anticipation of the debates that will be had in the upcoming COP meeting. The Paris Agreement is way off target to meet its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Last year’s UN Emissions Gap report stated that ‘A continuation of current policies is estimated to limit global warming to a maximum of 3.1C (range 1.9-3.8C) over the course of the century.’ This is why the big message from the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Gutierres, is that countries must arrive to COP30 prepared to increase their commitments. ‘The science demands action. The law commands it. The economics compel it. And People are calling for it’ he proclaimed in a powerful opening statement in New York in September.

Meanwhile, emissions are still rising with a very mixed picture on commitment to renewable energy over fossil fuels. Both the US and the EU have increased their reliance on non-renewable energy with the rhetoric of the US President signalling that their policy will only be going further in that direction for now. The demand of electricity grew faster than renewable energy could supply in 2024 and International Energy Agency has projected that government policy will halve the US’s predicted renewable energy growth for the decade. The story in the EU was one of months of weak performance from the wind and Hydropower........

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