Ten Years Since Paris: Where Climate Ambition Stands and Where We Go From Here
In 2015, the Paris Agreement marked a historic moment in global climate diplomacy. For the first time, 195 countries aligned around a shared ambition to limit global warming to well below 2°C, ideally 1.5°C, and to collectively reshape the world’s trajectory.
Ten years later, in 2025, it is worth pausing to reflect honestly, not just on what we hoped for, but on what we have actually achieved, where we have fallen short, and what this means for the decade ahead.
The Paris Agreement was a breakthrough. It set direction. It created momentum. It gave governments, businesses, investors and communities a language for climate action.
But ambition alone was never going to deliver outcomes. The last ten years have shown us that progress requires more than targets, it requires implementation, accountability, systems change, and a global willingness to move at the pace of science, not politics.
And that is where the story becomes more complex.
What Paris 2015 Achieved
A global, unified climate agenda
Before 2015, climate policies were fragmented, inconsistent and uneven. Paris changed that. For the first time, nearly every country committed to a shared goal — creating legitimacy, urgency and global coordination.
A catalyst for corporate and financial sector engagement
Paris fundamentally shifted the relationship between climate action and the private sector. It sparked the rise of ESG integration, climate risk disclosure, sustainable finance frameworks and net-zero commitments across industries. Climate became a business issue not a CSR ambition.
A surge in innovation and clean energy investment
The last decade delivered breakthroughs that would have felt optimistic in 2015:
exponential growth in renewable capacity
rapidly declining costs of solar and wind
major advances in storage, hydrogen, EVs and circular design
increased investment in climate technologies and green finance
The clean-energy transition is now central to economic planning worldwide.
A shared vocabulary for climate action
“Net zero,” “1.5°C-aligned,” “transition risk,” “Scope 3,” “climate resilience”. These terms are now embedded in boardrooms, annual reports and policy documents globally. Paris provided a framework the world could rally around.
What We Have Not Achieved
For all the progress, the last ten years have also revealed uncomfortable truths.
We are not on track for 1.5°C
Despite increased action, global emissions continue to rise. In 2024 the world surpassed the 1.5°C warming limit. The window for well below 2°C alignment is narrowing and may soon close without unprecedented acceleration.
National commitments have not kept pace with science
Many countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) remain too weak, too slow or inconsistently implemented. The gap between ambition and delivery persists.
The global financing structure is still inadequate
Climate finance has not scaled to meet global need particularly for developing nations. Adaptation financing continues to lag (although recent developments suggest this could pivot). This imbalance threatens the fairness and effectiveness of the global transition.
Implementation is uneven across regions and sectors
Some sectors have moved rapidly e.g., power, EVs, consumer goods, finance. Others remain significantly behind i.e., heavy industry, transport, agriculture, and resource-intensive supply chains.
Political cycles continue to disrupt climate momentum
The past decade has shown how vulnerable climate action can be to geopolitical dynamics, economic uncertainty and shifts in national leadership. The result is inconsistent progress, uncertainty, and complexity for businesses.
The Reality of 2025: Difficult Truths and Emerging Opportunities
2025 is a very different world from 2015. Climate impacts are no longer future risks they are here, now, affecting operations, supply chains, labour markets and financial stability.
Business expectations have fundamentally shifted. Regulation has matured. Disclosure is becoming mandatory. Stakeholders are more informed. Supply-chain requirements are tightening. And nature, biodiversity and social impacts are rising in prominence.
But in this more challenging landscape, something important has emerged. Climate action has moved from aspiration to necessity. And this shift, while difficult, is creating a new kind of opportunity.
Looking Forward: A Decisive Decade Ahead
The decade ahead is not about setting bigger goals. It’s about delivering on the ones we already have. The next ten years will be defined by:
• Implementation, not intention. Real transition plans. Real emissions reductions. Real accountability.
• Resilience as core business strategy. Climate risk, physical risk and resource volatility are now strategic considerations.
• Credible sustainability data. Sustainability data is merging with financial data. Companies with accurate, verifiable information will thrive.
• Supply-chain transformation. Net-zero commitments cannot be met without upstream alignment. This is where SMEs become central to global progress.
• Investor and lender expectations. Financial markets increasingly reward credible net-zero pathways and penalise inaction.
• Social value and just transition principles. Climate action must be paired with fairness, inclusion and community impact.
Ten years ago, Paris gave us direction. Today, our task is delivery. We must acknowledge the reality that we are not where we hoped we would be. But we are not where we used to be, either. Progress has been uneven, yes, but it has also been meaningful.
If anything, the last decade has shown that the future belongs to organisations that embrace sustainability not as obligation, but as opportunity to innovate, opportunity to build resilience, opportunity to lead and opportunity to create meaningful, long-term value
The next ten years will require courage, clarity and commitment. And for businesses, large and small, this moment is an invitation to rethink, to redesign and to lead. To build the future today that we wish we had begun ten years ago.
