Paris Agreement

Information on Aotearoa New Zealand’s post-2020 commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement.

Last updated: 6 June 2020

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Purpose of the Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement is the global agreement on climate change adopted by Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on 12 December 2015. It entered into force on 4 November 2016.

The purpose of the Paris Agreement is to:

• keep the global average temperature well below 2° C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5° C
• strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change
• make sure that financial flows support the development of low-carbon and climate-resilient economies.

Aotearoa New Zealand and the Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement took effect in 2020. This means Aotearoa New Zealand’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), applied from 2021.

New Zealand’s NDC is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

New Zealand's first NDC to the Paris Agreement was submitted in October 2015. An updated NDC was announced on 31 October 2021 on the eve of the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26).

The updated NDC is published on the UNFCCC NDC Registry.