What does the Paris Agreement mean by reaching a peak in global greenhouse gas emissions?

In the context of the Paris Agreement, reaching a peak in global greenhouse gas emissions refers to the objective for countries to stop the growth of their emissions as soon as possible and to undertake rapid reductions thereafter.1

This milestone is a critical component of the treaty's broader strategy to hold the increase in global temperatures to well below 2 °C above preindustrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit that increase to 1.5 °C. By peaking emissions, the international community aims to transition toward a balance between the amount of greenhouse gases produced by human activities—such as burning fossil fuels—and the amount removed from the atmosphere by natural or technological sinks, such as forests and oceans, in the period after 2050.1