UN chief hails China, US for formally joining Paris climate agreement

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In historic ceremony, UN chief hails China, US for formally joining Paris climate agreement

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon shakes hands with China’s President Xi Jinping and United States President Barack Obama at a climate pact ratification ceremony in Hangzhou, China, on 3 September 2016. China and the US deposited their legal instruments for formally joining the Paris Agreement. UN Photo/Eskinder

Source:UN News.

3 September 2016 – Visiting the southeastern city of Hangzhou in China, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has commended the leaders of that country and the United States for formally joining the Paris Agreement on climate change today.

“Now, by formally joining the Paris Agreement, you have added powerful momentum to the drive for the Agreement to enter into force this year,” the UN chief said in a ceremony, in which he received the legal instruments for joining the Paris Agreement from the world's two largest greenhouse gas emitters.

With China and the United States making this historic step, we now have 26 countries who have ratified and 39 per cent of global emissions accounted for, to be exact

“With China and the United States making this historic step, we now have 26 countries who have ratified and 39 per cent of global emissions accounted for, to be exact,” he added. China and the US together account for nearly 38 per cent.

The Paris Agreement, adopted by 195 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) last December in Paris, calls on countries to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future.

The agreement will enter into force 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, deposit their instruments of ratification or acceptance with the Secretary-General.

In today's ceremony, which was also attended by China's President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama, Mr. Ban noted that “we need another 29 countries representing 16 per cent of global emissions to bring this Paris Agreement into force.”

“I am hopeful and optimistic that we can do it before the end of this year and before my term as Secretary-General of the United Nations ends,” he added.

The UN chief will convene a special event on 21 September at the UN Headquarters in New York for the deposit of instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession to the Paris Agreement on climate change. The event will also provide an opportunity to other countries to publicly commit to the agreement before the end of 2016.

“I urge all leaders, particularly G20 countries, to accelerate their domestic ratification processes so we can turn the aspirations of Paris into the transformative climate action the world so urgently needs,” Mr. Ban said. He is scheduled to attend the G20 summit in China tomorrow.

With the Paris Agreement, the world has an equitable, durable yet flexible global framework for reducing emissions, strengthening climate resilience and providing support to developing countries to build low-carbon economies and adapt to inevitable climate impacts, the Secretary-General said.

This global climate agreement will accelerate the growth of clean energy and help us achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and will strengthen international stability and security, save lives and improve human well-being, he added.

“And now, with these two big countries joining the Paris Agreement, I am sure that we can really set a very ambitious dynamic step forward,” he concluded.

In a statement, Mogens Lykketoft, the President of the UN General Assembly, said that he was “pleased to hear this very good news coming out of Hangzhou just before the opening of the G20 meeting.”

China's own ambitious action plan is now rolling with announcement of guidelines for establishing a Green Financial System and a goal for green projects of $600 billion each year, he noted.

“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.