The presidents of China and the United States handed over their countries’ instruments of joining the Paris Agreement separately to Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon in Hangzhou on Saturday. The papers certified the U.S. and China have taken the necessary steps to join the Paris accord that set nation-by-nation targets for cutting carbon emissions. “That’s what we’re doing”, he said.
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The event will build on the “strong political momentum” from Paris for urgent global action on climate change by all countries, which is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and creating a more prosperous, equitable and liveable future for all people, he said.
In December past year, negotiators from 179 countries and the European Union came out with final details of the Paris Climate Agreement, however, only 23 countries have ratified the accord.
Xi said on Saturday that in order to take full advantage of the implementation of the Paris Agreement the worldwide community should make a greater effort to improve global governance mechanism and innovation on relevant.
The previous global effort to curb reliance on planet-harming fossil fuels, the Kyoto Protocol, had excluded China and other developing nations, while the United States refused to sign up.
The Paris agreement is a global pact to slash greenhouse gases and limit the rise in temperatures to well “below two” degrees Celsius. Obama said the climate deal is “the moment we finally chose to save our planet”.
Throughout his tenure, Obama has sought to check China’s influence in Asia by shifting USA military resources and diplomatic attention from the Middle East. Other countries are expected to follow China and the United States and ratify the deal later this month during the UN Climate Change week. Things are set to accelerate now that China and the United States, which together produce around 38 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions, have also formally signed up.
“With the two biggest emitters ready to lead, the transition to a low-emissions, climate-resilient global economy is now irreversible”.
Trump tweeted this in November 2012: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive”.
“The China-US ratification and the great Chinese initiatives put useful pressure on those UN-members that have not yet ratified or made their own national action plans”, he said.
To go into effect, at least 55 countries, or those accounting for 55 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, need to ratify the agreement.
President Obama says the agreement is a crucial first step. And why are many other countries having to ask their legislatures for approval before ratification?
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Environmental groups hailed the move. -China Climate-Smart/Low-Carbon Cities Summits in 2015 and 2016 and look forward to the next summit, to be held in Boston, the United States, in 2017, as well as the next Clean Energy Ministerial to be hosted by China in 2017.
