Over 190 countries endorsed a new global climate agreement in December 2015 at a United Nations meeting in Paris (known as COP21). The Paris Agreement is designed to stabilize the earth’s climate and prevent our atmosphere from heating-up above a global warming tipping point of 2 degrees Celsius, beyond which scientists warn extreme ecological disasters will occur. The success of the new agreement is contingent on the efforts all countries, as well as non-state actors, must make to increase and honor their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2015, in preparation for COP 21, most countries submitted pledges, also known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 or earlier. The Paris Agreement recognizes that these pledges, while good starting points, are insufficient to avoid having the planet warm beyond 2 degrees Celsius. Therefore, all countries are encouraged to revisit and strengthen their pledges before the agreement goes into effect in 2020.

Climate Scorecard is a mechanism for supporting efforts needed to implement the new Paris Agreement. Such efforts include encouraging countries to increase their emission reduction pledges, tracking efforts to strengthen pre-Paris INDCs, making sure that countries put in place policies and programs to achieve their reduction targets, and holding nation-states accountable for fulfilling the promise of the Paris Agreement.