The following article is repurposed from the journal article Achieving Paris Climate Agreement Pledges: Alternative Designs for Linking Emissions Trading Systems. The report with footnotes and references is available at https://sustainabilitysolutions.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/REEP_Rose-et-al_Policy-Brief_2018P.pdf

The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement: Opening the Door to International Collaboration

The 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Paris in December 2015, resulted in 195 countries making voluntary greenhouse-gas (GHG) reduction pledges, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). In a departure from their previous positions, many low- and middle-income (LMI) countries made substantial pledges to mitigate and sequester GHGs. However, the limited financial, technological, and institutional capacity of these countries raises challenges for the attainment