Lou Leonard, senior vice-president, climate & energy, for World Wildlife Fund, observed that by so quickly ratifying the Paris Agreement, President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping are signalling to other countries that the Paris Agreement can come into force this year.
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At the ceremony in the Chinese city of Hangzhou Obama said that climate change would “define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other challenge”. Climate scientists at the Met Office in the United Kingdom have predicted 2016 temperatures will rise to 1.1 degrees above the pre-industrial threshold.
The G20 nations are responsible for about 80% of global carbon emissions. A note put out by the organisations also point out that the pledges of China and United States to the Paris Agreement would deliver half of the agreement’s climate impact.
China along with 195 other countries signed the Paris Agreement at UN Headquarters in NY on April 22, Earth Day, sending a strong messaging to the worldwide community as it joins forces against global warming. “The earlier that Paris is ratified and implemented in full, the more secure that future will become”.
The US and China have ratified the world’s first comprehensive climate deal, in a move hailed by campaigners who urged the United Kingdom to follow suit.
“We hope that our willingness to work together on this issue will inspire greater ambition and greater action around the world”, Mr. Obama said.
But he did not commit to immediate ratification. It runs out in 2020 and the Paris Agreement will be its successor. That meeting took place in March.
Campaigners welcomed the move, with WWF saying the two giants economies had sent “a very powerful signal that there will be real global action on climate change”.
For its part the White House is looking for the Paris accord to come into force during Obama’s tenure, in part to burnish his climate legacy, but also to ensure the forthcoming USA election does not obstruct U.S. participation.
Mr. Trudeau acknowledged on Saturday more work remains to be done before Canada can ratify the Paris agreement.
“I know that we will have once again candid conversations about some of those differences: issues like human rights or cyber or maritime”, Obama told Xi at the start of their meeting.
In China, meanwhile, a slowing economy and a slow transformation away from heavy industry have prompted some observers to suggest its emissions have already begun to decline. The U.S. has pledged to cut its emissions by at least 26 percent over the next 15 years, compared to 2005 levels.
China’s leadership sees common goal in battling emissions and sparking new forms of economic growth.
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Erdogan and Xi also discussed the G20 agenda, according to the sources, and the Chinese leader said he was pleased to welcome his Turkish counterpart in Hangzhou after the highly successful Antalya G20 summit that Turkey hosted past year.
