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.
Advertisement
Lawmakers voted to adopt “the proposal to review and ratify the Paris Agreement” at the closing meeting of the bimonthly session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, Xinhua news agency reported.
Together, China and the US account for nearly 40 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.S. and China ratified the landmark Paris climate agreement on Saturday, a momentous step toward global emissions reductions that Canada has yet to take, though Justin Trudeau continues to boast about his government’s environmental leadership. The deal requires at least 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions to take the additional step of ratification before it takes effect.
The move by China and the United States bolsters the agreement – bringing the total greenhouse gas emissions accounted for by signatories to 39.06%.
“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.
The United States, which was the world’s largest emitter when the pact was adopted in 1997, never ratified it. Some of his most intense critics don’t even agree with the basic premise that the world climate is changing in a way that threatens future generations.
China s parliament ratified the agreement earlier Saturday, and President Xi said the Asian giant was “solemnly” committed to the deal. For example, the European Union has a “national determined contribution” of cutting emissions 40 percent by 2030 on 1990 levels, and the U.S.by up to 28 percent by 2025 compared with 2005. Their formal ratification of the agreement could provide the necessary push to implement the Paris accord by the end of the year.
“For all the challenges that we face, the growing threat of climate change could define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other challenge”, he said.
“In the wake of the Copenhagen agreement in 2009, he recognized if we were going to reset a global approach to actually successfully addressing climate change, we were going to need to redefine the USA relationship with China on this issue”, Deese said.
White House officials also are hoping to secure an amendment to the Montreal Protocol, an global treaty created to phase out the production of chemicals that deplete the ozone layer.
Obama has worked hard to tackle climate change, and the agreement would be part of his legacy as president.
“The G20 countries generate about 75 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions”, said Christoph Bals of the Germanwatch pressure group.
U.S. President Barack Obama arrives at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou, China, September 3, 2016.
Of China’s artificial island-building in the South China Sea, Obama added: “We’ve indicated to them that there will be consequences”.
Advertisement
China is hosting the Group of 20 summit of industrialized and emerging economies.
