The agreement, reached in Paris after years of negotiations, provides a pathway for countries to reduce emissions so that the global temperature rise is kept below 2 degrees Celsius. The landmark pact seeks to put the world on a path towards low-carbon growth and a more sustainable future.
Advertisement
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali handed over the instrument to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the UN headquarters in NY. Formal approval from countries representing 7.5 per cent in global emissions is still needed.
Elaborated on December a year ago, the Paris Agreements required at least 55 signing countries to be ratified.
The Paris Agreement was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 at a high-level signature ceremony convened by the Secretary General in NY.
The US and China, the world’s largest emitters, ratified the agreement early this month, setting the stage for other countries to quickly join the Paris Agreement on climate change.
“I am happy to declare that we have officially crossed one of the two thresholds required to bring the Paris Agreement into force”, Ban said at the ceremony referring to the total of 60 countries that have so far done so. That group includes Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, the European Union, France, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Poland and the Republic of Korea.
Now, this means we will cross the final barrier for entry into force of the Paris Agreement.
“We have no time”, Mr Ban said, addressing the General Assembly on Tuesday.
It will help accelerate efforts to protect the poor and most vulnerable from increasing climate impacts.
The report assesses how the new “bottom up” climate regime that has been introduced through the Paris climate deal, makes it critical for subnational governments to cooperate and share knowledge, so that the most successful policies and programs are replicated globally. The European Commission estimates that air and marine transportation could contribute as much as a third of all emissions by 2050.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had warned earlier this month that cooperating nations will have the ideal opportunity to vow their support to the agreements amid Climate Week. 2016 is shaping up to be the hottest year ever recorded on Earth, which is disturbing enough on its own, but it’s following a trend. It was adopted a year ago in Paris.
Advertisement
When the publisher of the U.S. journal Science asked the presidential candidates about their views on climate change, Trump replied that “there is still much that needs to be investigated in the field of ‘climate change'”. “We know that species are moving and that the ecosystem of the planet, including the oceans, is changing”. “I don’t foresee anything going wrong at this stage”, she said. “I have no doubt about that”.
