The Paris Agreement (UNFCCC 2015; hereafter PA) created a framework for global action commensurate (in so far as still possible) with the original UNFCCC objective of preventing dangerous anthropogenic climate change (UNFCCC 1992; Mace 2016). PA Article 2(1) specified, for the first time, a globally agreed quantitative mitigation objective in the form of a global temperature rise limit: ‘holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C’. Crucially, PA Article 2(2) committed the Parties to implementation that reflects ‘… equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances’ (CBDR-RC). PA Article 3 then prescribed a bottom-up architecture, placing the onus on the Parties themselves – nation states and regional blocs such as the European Union (EU) – to ensure that their mitigation plans, presented in statements of voluntary Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), adequately reflect these objectives and obligations.