Scientists and policymakers alike understood that 2015 was the year a new global climate treaty needed to be forged in order to start aggressively addressing emissions at a level commensurate with what the science was telling us about necessary reductions to avoid catastrophic impacts.
And believe it or not, they came together and brought us the Paris Agreement [2].
INDCs play an essential role in the ability of the Paris Agreement to achieve its goals. They provide the most detailed descriptions of how individual countries will meet emissions targets. However, some INDCs do this in a more detailed way than others, which is one criticism of the Agreement. Skim through the following INDCs and note the difference in detail between the countries' "plans" to reduce emissions in their 2021 INDC. Note also how much more detailed the 2021 plans are than the initital submissions in 2015. Clearly progress has been made in the detail provided over the past 6 years and climate goals have become more ambitious, but you can also see the difference in details provided with regards to how to make this happen. All 2015 INDCs can be accessed here [14]and all 2021 INDCs can be accessed here [15].
"Differentiation, Financial Support, and the Paris Climate Talks [20]" (Stowe, 2015) - this provides a nice summary of some of the key differences between Kyoto and Paris, which are really key to understanding the possibility for more extensive success. "Is the Paris ruleboook sufficient for effective implementation of Paris Agreement? [21]" (Sun, et al., 2022) provides a very detailed look at NDCs and whether or not the Paris Agreement is capable of reaching climate goals.
Links
[1] https://www.apimages.com/Search?query=francois+mori&ss=10&st=kw&entitysearch=&toItem=15&orderBy=Newest&searchMediaType=allmedia
[2] https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement
[3] https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/all-about-ndcs
[4] https://www.wri.org/indc-definition
[5] https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/all-about-ndcs#countries
[6] https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/
[7] https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/10/half-degree-and-world-apart-difference-climate-impacts-between-15-c-and-2-c-warming
[8] https://www.wri.org/insights/developed-countries-contributions-climate-finance-goal
[9] https://us.boell.org/en/2021/10/25/broken-promises-developed-countries-fail-keep-their-100-billion-dollar-climate-pledge
[10] https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/true-value-climate-finance-third-what-developed-countries-report-oxfam
[11] https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/nationally-determined-contributions-ndcs/ndc-synthesis-report/ndc-synthesis-report
[12] https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/message_to_parties_and_observers_on_ndc_numbers.pdf
[13] https://unfccc.int/news/cop26-update-to-the-ndc-synthesis-report
[14] https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/submissions/INDC/Submission%20Pages/submissions.aspx
[15] https://unfccc.int/NDCREG
[16] https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/submissions/INDC/Published%20Documents/United%20States%20of%20America/1/U.S.%20Cover%20Note%20INDC%20and%20Accompanying%20Information.pdf
[17] https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/submissions/INDC/Published%20Documents/Canada/1/INDC%20-%20Canada%20-%20English.pdf
[18] https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/NDC/2022-06/United%20States%20NDC%20April%2021%202021%20Final.pdf
[19] https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/NDC/2022-06/Canada%27s%20Enhanced%20NDC%20Submission1_FINAL%20EN.pdf
[20] https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/differentiation-financial-support-and-paris-climate-talks
[21] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674927822000594