In 2015, the landmark Paris Agreement set out a legally binding international treaty on climate change. The agreement sets out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2 deg C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 deg C. The agreement also aims to strengthen countries' ability to deal with the impacts of climate change and support them in their efforts.

At COP26, governments had to make progress in closing three major gaps: a gap in targets to reduce emissions, a gap in rules to deliver and monitor progress, and a gap in financing the climate action needed to put the world on a pathway to a safer future.