Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The Paris Agreement (French: L'accord de Paris) is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020. The language of the agreement was negotiated by representatives of 195 countries at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015. It was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 (Earth Day) in a ceremony in New York City. As of September 2016, 191 UNFCCC members have signed the treaty, 61 of which have ratified it. The agreement will only enter into force provided that 55 countries that produce at least 55% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions ratify, accept, approve or accede to the agreement; although the minimum number of ratifications has been reached, the ratifying states do not produce the requisite percentage of greenhouse gases for the agreement to enter into force. The head of the Paris Conference, France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius, said this "ambitious and balanced" plan is a 'historic turning point' in the goal of reducing global warming." [Wikipedia]