The 2015 Paris Agreement requires the world's countries to overhaul fossil-fuel based economies and transition to low-carbon societies by mid-century - and asks that all develop national long-term strategies towards that end. Ecologic Institute has developed a concept for the evaluation of such long-term climate strategies for the project MaxiMiseR, run by WWF, which has now published results for the EU countries based on elements of this concept. The concept is available for download.

At the climate summit in Cancun (2010), industrialized parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed to develop Low Carbon Development Strategies (LCDS) as a means of realizing the long-term emissions cuts required in the face of climate change. These committments were formally translated into EU law through the Monitoring Mechanism Regulation in 2013, and January 2015 saw the first round of LCDS reporting by all EU Member States. Member States must report on any updates on the LCDS on a biennial basis.