Following a torturous path, in 2015 the global community agreed in the Paris Agreement1 to a goal of: Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2℃ above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. The Paris Agreement was an enormous milestone that has been hailed as a "major diplomatic success"~2 and it certainly was in the context of the history, difficulty and complexity of the negotiations. It crossed political and legal canyons that had divided the global community and prevented progress on responding to the threat of dangerous climate change for over a decade. Its goals, and the impacts we expect to occur even if they are achieved, are far better than unmitigated climate change where the global temperatures increase by 4℃ or more - a future that would imperil humanity's continued existence.~3 And, as Peter Christoff writes:~4
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