The landmark pact seeks to put the world on a path towards low-carbon growth and a more sustainable future.
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U.S Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon shake hands to commit to the Paris Climate Agreement during a special ceremony held at the United Nations in New York City on September 21, 2016.
By Wednesday the total number of ratifications had reached 60, representing more than 47.5 percent of emissions.
Sri Lanka on Wednesday (Sep 21) formalized its pledge to fight climate change, with President Maithripala Sirisena depositing its instrument of ratification of the Paris Agreement at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in NY.
The EU was a prime mover behind the success of last autumn’s climate talks but is now a laggard in ratifying the December deal it produced to slash greenhouse gases and keep global temperature increases to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. The agreement will only enter into force when 55 countries that produce at least 55% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions ratify it.
The deal gained momentum in early September when the US and China, both major emitters of greenhouse gases, announced their ratification of the deal. At a UN General Assembly meeting in NY this morning, 31 nations officially signed onto the accord, making it very likely that the deal will enter legal force this year.
Included in that group are countries, such as Australia, Cambodia, New Zealand, Germany, Ivory Coast and France.
That’s very good news in light of the looming U.S. presidential election, which features a fascist tangerine who thinks climate change is a Chinese hoax and has promised to rip the Paris agreement to shreds if elected.
“Climate change is already unsafe, it has already exceeded the capacity of many countries to adapt to it, we have already lost lives, we are losing species and we have lost lands and buildings”, said Gutierrez, speaking on behalf of a troika of climate-vulnerable nations including Ethiopia and the Philippines.
“Climate impacts are increasing”.
The European Union, which accounts for 12 percent of global emissions, is lagging behind other countries in joining the deal but is trying to speed things up. The European Commission estimates that air and marine transportation could contribute as much as a third of all emissions by 2050. If the USA “exits” the agreements, the goal of limiting global warming to a 1.5 °C increase will be impossible, as the increase in temperature will surely surpass the 1.5 °C mark, as one of the most influential nations promoting the agreements would just relinquish its responsibility. “Here” being Earth. July and August both set records for the hottest ever, and 2016 is all but guaranteed to be the warmest year on record. It was adopted previous year in Paris.
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“The US is the second largest global emitter of global warming gases but its actions still rank first in terms of influence on the course of action taken by other countries”, said Michael Oppenheimer, a climate expert at Princeton University, in an email to The Washington Post. “We know that species are moving and that the ecosystem of the planet, including the oceans, is changing”.
