December 12th, 2025, was the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the monumental Paris Climate Treaty. The agreement, however, was not officially international law until November 4 of the following year. The treaty, which includes nearly 200 nations, states its goal is to “limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels,” according to the United Nations’ website. The number was agreed upon at the annual UN Climate Change Conference, specifically COP21, which was held in Paris that year.
In addition, to achieve their goal, global greenhouse gas emissions would have had to reach their peak by the middle of the current decade at the latest, followed by a minimum decline of 43% by 2030.
We have already surpassed the first target by a year– but was it met? And how close are we to the second step? Well, there’s good news and bad news.
The bad news: Over a decade later, we are still far away from the treaty’s goal. We would have to take drastic, world-changing action at this point to meet it, with projected warming now being at 3℃. Additionally, global greenhouse gas emissions have not reached their peak as of 2025. In fact, after November’s COP30 in Brazil, the UN released an analysis of countries’ climate action plans for 2035. This report showed that global emissions will only decrease 12% by that year with these plans. This is a mere fifth of the reductions needed.
The good news: The world has changed monumentally since 2015. Despite not making progress to decrease emissions enough to keep warming at or below 1.5℃, there has been a great amount of eco-innovation and successes that would have been unimaginable ten years ago. Emissions seem close to plateauing as well. According to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) have increased by only ⅓ of a percent per year since 2015, less than one-fifth that of the rate observed in the decade preceding the year.
So, what moves have been made around the world to allow us to accomplish this success?
To begin on a high note, as of December 2025, Australia’s Climate Council says that six countries have achieved, or are extremely close to, being powered by 100% renewables, with many more quickly catching up. The countries include Ethiopia, Albania, Iceland, Norway, Nepal, and Costa Rica, a diverse spread that represents most of the world’s inhabited continents. Although these nations seem wildly different, the important factor they have in common is unique and abundant natural resources, which allow them to generate their energy from sources like hydro and geothermal power.
Next, in an unlikely turn of events, the nation of China has recently emerged as one of the world’s leaders in the clean energy sector. Being one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world, its show of desire to completely upend a system that powers the lives of over a billion citizens is massively important. For example, China’s fossil fuel emissions from energy use fell 1.7% from 2015 to 2023, even as the demand for electricity increased by 65% in that same time period. More recently, China has become the all-around largest investor in green energy, with 31% of investments around the world being funded by the nation. The results of these investments are clear, with wind and solar electricity generation in 2024 climbing 25% higher than the previous year. Subsequently, the first half of 2025 saw a 27% rise from the year before. This effort, along with others, was enough to cut their national emissions 2% in the first six months of 2024, an amazing start for one of the world’s most populous and productive countries.
In contrast, the United States, another one of the world’s biggest players, recently backed out of the Paris Agreement, despite making progress on clean energy generation.
However, another country has emerged as a hotspot for potential renewable energy development: Australia. Being the sunniest and one of the windiest countries in the world, Australia’s vast, scorching deserts hold massive possibilities. In fact, more Australians have rooftop solar panels than anywhere else in the world.
To conclude, the International Energy Agency found that reaching 100% renewable energy by 2050 will result in substantial decreases in household electricity bills in advanced economies. In October, the UN Secretary General warned that we have already surpassed 1.5℃ of warming. This is a very pressing issue that deserves to be acted upon. Fortunately, many countries around the world have decided to respond to the crisis in innovative ways, though it is clear that we are not acting quickly or strongly enough to prevent irreparable harm to our planet.
