– What should countries do? –

By signing the Paris Agreement, almost 200 countries agreed to stop temperature rises “well below 2°C” and work towards the safer target of 1.5°C.

But it does not prescribe how to achieve this.

The agreement left it up to countries to voluntarily set their own plans and targets, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

These include targets for reducing emissions and measures to achieve them, such as the deployment of renewable energy, the electrification of transport and an end to deforestation.

There is no set model that countries must follow, but the richest countries – historically the largest emitters – have a responsibility to commit to reducing their emissions most drastically.

The plans are to be revised every five years, with each update expected to be more ambitious than the last.

This time, countries are expected to improve their 2030 targets and outline what economy-wide actions they will take through 2035.

– What is the goal? –

An agreement reached at last year’s COP28 climate summit “encouraged” countries to present plans aligned with stopping warming at 1.5°C.

To hope to achieve this goal, emissions must be reduced by 42% by 2030 and 57% by 2035, the United Nations Environment Program said last month.

However, currently emissions continue to increase.

Maintaining the 1.5°C mark would require a collective effort “unheard of following a global conflict”, he adds.

Without mobilization “on a scale and pace never seen before… the 1.5°C target will soon be dead”, said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen.

The big moment to assess progress towards the 1.5°C target will come at the crucial COP30 climate summit in Brazil next year.

– And fossil fuels? –

Scientists and the International Energy Agency have said that the development of new fossil fuel projects is incompatible with stopping warming at 1.5°C.

But many fossil fuel-producing countries say new oil and gas projects will be needed as the world moves to net zero emissions.

Countries are under pressure to outline in their updated plans how they intend to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, something all countries agreed at last year’s COP.

By Chloé Farand