U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joins dozens of world leaders for a signing ceremony that is expected to set a record for global diplomacy: Never have so many countries signed an agreement on the first available day.
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My home state of Colorado has warmed substantially over the past 50 years.
But following a host of announcements at the signing event, observers now think it could happen later this year.
More than 170 nations have signed on the first day the agreement has been open for signature.
The signing ceremony in NY is arguably the biggest inking of an agreement in history, according to the United Nations, drawing so many countries on the first day of an agreement.
With the planet heating up to record levels, sea levels rising and glaciers melting, the pressure to have the Paris Agreement enter into force and to have every country turn its words into deeds was palpable at the United Nations signing ceremony. The United Nations says at least 13 countries are expected to do that Friday by depositing their instruments of ratification. However, it is now up to individual countries to ratify the agreement to make it legally binding.
While the United States and China are the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters-together accounting for nearly forty percent of the world’s greenhouse emissions-it is the poorer, developing nations that suffer the most from the devastating impacts of climate change.
The deal still has to be ratified by each signatory nation.
“I urge all countries to join the agreement at the national level”.
A clause in the treaty means it would take four years if a new leader, not committed to tackling climate change, wanted to take the U.S. out of the agreement.
Under the agreement, countries set their own targets for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. They’ve been updated in the text.
He equally called for the adoption of procedures and mechanisms for the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement, including an action plan for the pre-2020 period for mitigation, adaptation, financing, capacity building, transparency and the transfer of technology, particularly for the benefit of developing countries and the least developed countries in Africa and Latin America, as well as Small Island Developing States. The window for keeping global temperature rise well below two degrees Celsius, let alone 1.5 degrees, is rapidly closing. A separate analysis by Climate Action Tracker, a European group, projected warming of 2.7 degrees Celsius.
Either way, scientists say the consequences could be catastrophic in some places, wiping out crops, flooding coastal areas and melting Arctic sea ice. She said: “There was tremendous energy in Paris when the Agreement was adopted last December”. Analysts say that if the agreement enters into force before President Barack Obama leaves office in January, it would be more complicated for his successor to withdraw from the deal, because it would take four years to do so under the agreement’s rules. Together, let us turn the aspirations of Paris into action. The US is committed to reaching an agreement on a global market-based measure that will help move the airline sector toward this ambitious goal. Previous year was the hottest on record. World leaders are adapting and innovating away from fossil fuels and business owners are investing in a clean energy economy.
Following the deal signing, Minister Manju exchanged greetings with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UNFCCC Executive Secretary Cristiana Figueres.
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While the United States, China and India – the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters – were not represented by their highest officials, some 60 heads of state and government were set to be among the signatories. “I know New Zealanders are up for the challenge”.
