U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joins dozens of world leaders for a signing ceremony that is expected to set a record for worldwide diplomacy: Never have so many countries signed an agreement on the first available day.
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According to the United Nations, there were 175 nations that signed the accord on Friday and 15 of those have officially notified the UN that they had already ratified the agreement. It will enter into force 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, deposit their instruments of ratification.
It’s worth mentioning that China and the United States together account for 38 percent of global emissions.
China became the 21st signatory as Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, the special envoy of President Xi Jinping, announced the country would ratify the pact before the G20 Hangzhou summit in September.
The Obama administration is expected to treat the deal as an executive agreement, which needs only the president’s approval. Leaders from at least 175 countries came to NY to sign an worldwide treaty that aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. “There is only one Mother earth and we must take care of it”, he said.
The first three months of 2016 have broken temperature records and 2015 was the planet’s warmest year since records began in the 19th century, with heat waves, droughts and rising sea levels. “I thank all the world leaders who have come here to show their support”, “said” United Nations secretary General Ban Ki-moon during a joint press conference with France President Francois Hollande. “We must intensify efforts to decarbonize our economies”, Ban told the gathering at the signature ceremony.
Dr Balakrishnan acknowledged that hard conversations had taken place to make the agreement happen, but added that the accord has shown there are ways for countries to work together for a “balanced and inclusive outcome”. The objectives are not legally required, but the nations must apprise them every five years. He added: “We need to go further than the pledges made there”.
A key party to the agreement, China has pledged to cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels, increase non-fossil fuel sources in primary energy consumption to about 20 percent, and peak its carbon emissions by 2030.
Thus, Ukraine has joined other members of the worldwide community in signing the Paris Agreement.
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Ukraine was among 175 countries whose delegates have finished signing the Paris climate agreement at the United Nations headquarters in NY on Friday, April 22.
