The Obama administration ratified the Paris Agreement as an “executive agreement” which, unlike a new treaty, does not require endorsement by the United States Senate.
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“But while (UN Secretary General) Ban Ki-moon was “hopeful and optimistic” that the agreement can be brought into force by the end of this year, Indian officials don’t seem to think this way”. Obama said he and China’s President Xi Jinping together chose to “commit formally to joining the agreement ahead of schedule”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to maintain her reputation as a climate champion through next year’s G20 presidency, and if we apply enough pressure, she’ll have to lead the way in securing a strong commitment from world leaders to end all fossil fuel subsidies by 2020.
Sadly, the United Kingdom has dawdled on Paris ratification and has not yet made any announcement of when it intends to do so.
The US and China are already among the 26 states that have ratified the so-called Paris Agreement, the first global and legally-binding climate deal.
In addition, the White House says both the US and China have stated their intention to prepare and publish their respective mid-century, long-term low greenhouse-gas emission development strategies under the Paris Agreement.
The China and the United States were the first G20 countries to have their fossil fuel subsidies reviewed in a process chaired by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The United States and China may nurture many a clashing perspective on a whole host of worldwide issues, but quite providentially they share their concerns about the future of Planet Earth.
Formally joining the agreement is in line with China’s domestic aim to clean up pollution and attain green growth, Wang said.
At the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris last November, joint efforts between China and the United States led to the approval of the Paris deal, which has become the road map for the world to deal with climate change after 2020.
President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart may have agreed to an global deal involving emissions reductions, but many believe that it is of little significance. “Against a backdrop of declining coal consumption and rapid renewable energy growth, China has even greater potential now to match its political effort with further action”, said Li Shuo, Greenpeace East Asia’s Senior Climate Policy Adviser.
“There are sensitivities around Brexit… but there are shifting dynamics on ratification and we welcome that… we will join the deal as soon as possible”. “This entails the transfer of proper technologies from other countries and China can provide a lot of useful technologies and experiences”, it said. However, Obama knew that would be impossible. He deposited with the Secretary General an instrument of “acceptance”, which the United Nations website defines as expressing “the consent of a state to be bound by a treaty”, with no domestic constitutional ratification required first.
Obama traced the history of the U.S. The House passed a resolution of disapproval.
“It’s essential that the momentum and consensus for global efforts to tackle climate change that was so hard won in Paris is not lost by a slow pace of implementation”. He bypassed Congress altogether.
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Here’s a bit of background, for those who may be rusty: In December, the Agreement was adopted by all parties during the COP21 climate talks in Paris.
