excluded and vulnerable individuals and groups, including those whose ways of life are inextricably linked to the environment. 6 16. In 2015, a number of UN human rights mandate holders published a report chronicling the range of adverse effects that climate change can have on human rights. 7 17. The 2015 Paris Agreement represents a major milestone in the evolving relationship between human rights and climate change, as it is the first multilateral environmental agreement to explicitly make this link. The preamble provides that all States “should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights.” The preamble also specifically mentions the human rights of those who are disproportionately affected by climate change, such as women, children, migrants, indigenous peoples, and people with disabilities. 18. In the Paris Agreement, States committed to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C, “recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change”. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (issued this year upon the request of the 21 st Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC) indicates that 1 degree of warming has already occurred. Notably, even this much warming contravenes the objectives of the UNFCCC to prevent adverse effects of climate change on human health and welfare and substantially impacts the effective enjoyment of human rights. For example, the report states that “Any increase in global warming is projected to affect human health, with primarily negative consequences.”8 Therefore neither 1.5°C or 2°C can be considered as safe targets for warming. However, there are substantial differences in the scale of expected negative impacts of climate change between 1.5°C and 2°C degrees of warming, with the latter causing higher risks of heat-related and ozone-related mortality. 19. The findings of the IPCC highlight that only the most ambitious action possible will mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on human health and welfare and that the time left to act is extremely limited. While neither the 1.5°C or well below 2°C targets of the Paris Agreement are wholly consistent with the human rights obligations of States acting together in accordance with the duty of international cooperation, to protect human rights from the adverse effects of climate change, they do represent a ceiling that States have agreed should not be exceeded. 20. The UN Environment Programme has determined that full implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions 9 (NDCs) of States under the Paris Agreement would lead to 6 Statement of the UN Special Procedures Mandate Holders on the occasion of Human Rights Day (10 December 2014), http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15393&LangID=E 7 Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council, “The Effects of Climate Change on the Full Enjoyment of Human Rights,” 30 April 2015, available at: http://unfccc.int/files/science/workstreams/the_20132015_review/application/pdf/cvf_submission_annex_1_humanrights.pdf, para 9. 8 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2018. Special Report on 1.5°C: Summary for Policymakers, p. 11. http://report.ipcc.ch/sr15/pdf/sr15_spm_final.pdf 9 The Paris Agreement (Art 4, para. 2) requires each Party to prepare, communicate and maintain successive NDCs. NDCs are a statement of a State’s plans to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Most States submitted their Intended Nationally Determined Contribution 4