Global Climate Action after Paris

The Paris Agreement established a framework for the nationally determined climate targets put forward by more than 180 countries in the past year, and a new process for revisiting of these targets every five years. In this talk, Dr. Nathan Hultman will discuss how the process unfolded, starting with the U.S,–China joint announcement. He will highlight and discuss a few notable targets, including that of the United States, and will describe how these targets aggregate over the coming decade. Finally, he will address the question of how we might reach our global climate goals—including keeping warming to no more than 2 or even 1.5°C—under the targets and the approach established by Paris, and what that would imply for the global energy system.