News Summary

• Emissions-reduction pledges under the Paris Agreement are commonly understood as expressions of domestic preferences.
• Recent scholarship suggests that governments may also use climate pledges strategically to shape the behavior of other political actors.
• We identify six key strategic objectives: attracting international climate finance, setting standards for others, enhancing status, preserving credibility, facilitating domestic action, and pre-committing future governments.
• While most encourage stronger pledges, concerns about credibility can constrain ambition.
• Our findings have implications for ratcheting up international climate commitments.