“Our planet can not be saved unless we leave fossil fuels in the ground, where they belong”, DiCaprio, the U.N. Messenger of Peace, warned the officials gathered for the signing ceremony. “We will make early accession to the Paris agreement”.
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In an unprecedented display of unity and action in the 71-year history of the United Nations, world leaders and government representatives lined up in the UN General Assembly Hall to ink the historic document, setting a new record for day-one endorsement of any worldwide covenant.
President Obama lauded the signing of the deal on the White House website, but warned of what’s at stake.
Ban Ki-moon admitted that this is the day, for the sake of which he worked “from the very first day as Secretary General”, when he announced climate change problem as his top priority.
Tuvalu was one of 15 nations that not only signed but ratified the agreement on Friday.
France was given the honor to sign the pact first, in recognization of its hosting of the United Nations climate change conference in Paris in December 2015, which gave birth to the pact after almost two weeks of tough negotiations.
“This will supplement our substantial energy efficiency efforts and other mitigation measures to lower our Emissions Intensity by 36 per cent from 2005 levels and to stabilize our emissions around 2030”, he said.
Countries that had not yet indicated they would sign the agreement yesterday include some of the world’s largest oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Nigeria and Kazakhstan, the World Resources Institute said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, new cooperation projects have been launched this year to help strengthen the climate financing capacity of other developing countries, he added.
The deal commits states to keep the global rise in temperatures to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Global average temperatures have already climbed by nearly 1 degree Celsius. A year ago was the hottest on record.
“Walking away from the agreement would instantly turn the US from a leader to a defector” with serious diplomatic consequences, Elliot Diringer of the USA -based Center for Climate and Energy Solutions think tank told reporters Thursday. “If we delay, it will be gone”.
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“We all need to remember that we have to take decisive pre-2020 actions in order to create a solid foundation for our post-2020 commitments”, Dr Balakrishnan said. “The consequences of getting it wrong are unthinkable”.
