“The agreement remains the cornerstone of global efforts to effectively tackle climate change and cannot be renegotiated,” EU leaders said. In a joint letter, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker reaffirmed their commitment to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and underlined the EU`s commitment to the 2030 targets ahead of the UN Climate Change Summit in September 2019 and the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) in December 2019. Based solely on the current climate commitments of the Paris Agreement, temperatures are expected to have risen by 3.2°C by the end of the 21st century, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). To limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5°C, annual emissions must be below 25 gigatons (Gt) by 2030. With the current commitments of November 2019, emissions will be 56 Gt CO2e by 2030, twice as much as the environmental target. To limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5°C, it is necessary to reduce global annual emissions by 7.6% per year between 2020 and 2030. The four largest emitters (China, the United States, eu27 and India) have contributed more than 55% of total emissions over the past decade, excluding emissions from land-use change such as deforestation. China`s emissions increased by 1.6% in 2018 to a peak of 13.7 Gt CO2 equivalent. The United States emits 13% of global emissions and emissions increased by 2.5% in 2018. The Pact does not set greenhouse gas emission limits for each country and does not include enforcement mechanisms, but rather creates a framework for international negotiations on future agreements or protocols to set binding emission targets.

Participating countries meet annually at a Conference of the Parties (COP) to assess their progress and continue discussions on how best to tackle climate change. The Council adopted conclusions on climate change following the US Government`s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. .