Breakthrough as US and China agree to ratify Paris climate deal

| September 3, 2016 | Leave a Comment

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Date of Publication: September 3, 2016

Year of Publication: 2016

Publisher: Guardian News and Media Limited

Author(s): Tom Phillips, Fiona Harvey, Alan Yuhas

Newspaper: The Guardian

Campaigners hail key moment in battle against global warming as presidents Obama and Xi announce deal on eve of G20 summit in Hangzhou.

US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jiping have announced their countries’ ratifications of the Paris climate agreement. The Paris agreement, which was negotiated and finalized last December, “must be ratified by 55 countries, representing 55% of global emissions, in order to come into force”. Responsible for about 38% of global emissions, the US and China formally ratifying the agreement represents a major step in achieving that benchmark.

“If the Paris agreement comes into force this year as hoped, it means the nearly 200 governments party to it will become obliged to meet emissions-cutting pledges made before the deal last December. For example, the EU has a ‘national determined contribution’ of cutting emissions by 40% by 2030 on 1990 levels, and the US by up to 28% by 2025 compared with 2005.

“The deal coming into force would also commit the countries to aspire to keep temperatures below 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – a tall ask and one that will require those country pledges to be ramped up – and for rich countries to continue giving climate aid to poorer countries beyond 2020.”

Climate campaigners expect that the announcement will prompt a ‘surge’ in September as other countries, including other top emitters follow suit.

“’The world finally has a global climate agreement with both the US and China as formal parties,’ said Jennifer Morgan, the executive director of Greenpeace International. ‘This signals a new era in global efforts to address climate change.’”

The full article is available here.

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