Key multilateral environmental agreements

The Paris Agreement is the main legally binding treaty on climate change. Adopted by 196 parties in 2015 under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), it sets an overarching goal, 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 above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change;. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) are at the heart of the agreement; they require all Parties to undertake and communicate ambitious efforts to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change (The NDC can be found in the UNFCCC NDC Registry). Each Party is required to prepare, communicate, improve the quality and increase the ambition of its NDC, working on five-year cycles. The Paris Agreement invites countries to submit long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies (LT-LEDS), providing the long-term horizon to the NDC. The Paris Agreement also aims to significantly strengthen national adaptation efforts, including through international cooperation, and invites all countries to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). Unlike NDC, LT-LEDS and NAPs are not mandatory. From 2024 onwards, an enhanced transparency framework (ETF) established at country level shall track actions taken and progress in climate change mitigation, adaptation measures and support provided or received.

The Montreal Protocol (1987) was designed to stop the production and import of ozone depleting substances (ODS) and reduce their concentration in the atmosphere to help protect the earth’s ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol is considered highly successful: 99 % of ODS were eliminated from the atmosphere and the ozone layer is expected to return to average 1980 levels by 2040.

In 2022, the 196 parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a landmark set of goals and targets to conserve, restore and sustainably use biodiversity, to share the benefits of its use in an equitable manner, and to provide adequate means of implementation. The GBF has a number of quantified and time-bound voluntary targets, including a commitment that by 2030, 30 % of the earth’s surface is protected, 30 % of degraded areas are restored, invasive species are reduced by 50%, harmful subsidies are phased out by USD 500 billion per year, and at least USD 200 billion per year are mobilised for the implementation of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), i.e. the measures to be taken by each Party for the implementation of the Convention.

The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the only internationally legally binding framework set up to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought, with the view to contributing to sustainable development in the affected areas.

The Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 aims to achieve substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries. It outlines seven clear targets and four priorities for action to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks: (i) Understanding disaster risk; (ii) Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk; (iii) Investing in disaster reduction for resilience; and (iv) Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response, and to ‘Build Back Better’ in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.