Share

Saturday: China ratifies Paris climate pact, US tipped to follow

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.

Advertisement

More than 20 nations have signed on, or are expected to before the end of the year.

China is the top emitter of man-made carbon dioxide emissions, and the United States is second. They say the pact is merely an “executive agreement”. But the agreement does not carry the legal weigh of a treaty, a factor that allowed Obama to join the deal without submitting it to the Senate for ratification.

Few other major nations have joined the deal, though more than enough have committed to doing so.

China-responsible for around 25 percent of global carbon emissions-ratified the pact Saturday, ahead of a meeting of G20 leaders where the United States is also expected to follow suit, considerably boosting efforts.

For the USA and China, climate change is a rare issue where the two powers have worked as partners.

The two countries signed documents committing them to the deal, and then turned those documents over to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, according to the White House.

Before Saturday’s action by the US and China, 24 nations had formally joined, accounting for just 1.08 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations. It’ll only come into force legally after it really is ratified by at least 55 nations, which between them generate 55% of global carbon emissions.

Global environmental campaigner Greenpeace hailed Obama’s announcement, but said it was just a start.

The U.S. and China, for their part, have made progress toward finding a compromise on an HFC amendment.

President Barack Obama on Saturday said cooperation was “the single best chance that we have” to save the planet as he stood with China’s President Xi Jinping to formally enter their two nations into last year’s.

“We now need the other countries to join in and ratify as soon as possible, including the UK”.

“All countries will need to raise the ambition of their commitments under the agreement if we’re to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and reach a goal of net zero global warming emissions by mid-century”, Meyer said.

India is the world’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind China and USA, and its speedy decision to ratify the deal would help ensure it goes into effect this year.

Obama, who will be addressing weak global growth and several worldwide crises during his final G-20 summit, is pointing to the climate agreement with China as a bright spot on the worldwide scene.

The U.S.is hopeful that will happen this year.

Obama was also planning to hold one-on-one talks with the leaders of China, Turkey and Great Britain’s new premier, Theresa May, concerns about the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union.

He said China hopes to work with the U.S. and other parties to achieve fruitful results during the summit to inject momentum to the global economy while lifting confidence.

Speaking to reporters in Hangzhou, Mr. Trudeau said his government had done “exceptional work” to help attain global consensus on the deal late a year ago.

As welcome ceremonies go, President Barack Obama’s arrival in Hangzhou won’t be remembered as the warmest.

The White House issued a statement on Saturday morning announcing the USA ratification.

As Obama shook hands with a group of dignitaries on the tarmac, the official yelled at the White House reporters to get back. It was unclear if the official, whose name was not immediately clear, knew that Rice was a senior official and not a reporter. The Chinese official then yelled: “This is our country”.

China would continue to push yuan internationalisation and gradually open up the capital account, he said.

Advertisement

Russian Federation and the USA are both entangled in the Syrian civil war and are negotiating a deal for cooperation, though Russian Federation has backed Syrian President Bashar Assad who US officials say should be removed from power.

Barack Obama and Xi Jinping prior to a meeting in Hangzhou on Sept. 3