Promises and perils of the Paris Agreement

Climate models aiming to explore how global warming can be limited to the Paris Agreement targets of 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius usually invoke sweeping technical and societal transformations, including the extensive use of carbon dioxide removal technologies. In our Perspective, we argue that this reliance on technologies that may be difficult or impossible to implement at the required scale makes the Paris temperature goals increasingly less plausible, drawing into question a key basis and shared anchor of current climate science, politics, and activism. A way forward is the innovative concept of nationally determined contributions to climate risk reduction, introduced in the Paris Agreement, which fosters greater democratic engagement, accountability, and meaningful change toward mitigating and adapting to climate change.