An agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, starting in the year 2020. The agreement’s long-term goal is to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to limit the increase to 1.5°C, recognizing that this would substantially reduce the effects of climate change. It was adopted by 196 parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015, and entered into force on 4 November 2016.