Boost for Paris climate deal as US and China sign up
CHINA and the United States have formally joined the Paris climate deal in a giant step by the world’s two biggest polluters which could see the accord come into effect by the end of the year.
The historic agreement will come into force when at least 55 nations that produce a total of 55 per cent of global emissions have signed up – and the US and China account for 38 per cent.
Many observers had believed the agreement would take years to come into effect, with only 24 countries signed up to it before Saturday’s announcement, representing just one per cent of global emissions, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI), a Washington-based think-tank.
“I believe that we will now get 55 countries and meet the target by the end of the year,” said the WRI’s Andrew Light, a former senior climate change negotiator at the US Department of State and a member of its Paris team.
“There are some very good signals from the likes of South Korea, Ukraine and Argentina, so there will be a snowball effect and we will get there.”
Mr Light said he saw no reason for Britain to “hesitate”, adding that it could now join quickly due to the decision to leave the European Union.
“The EU process will be extremely long and cumbersome as every country needs to go through the ratification process before the EU can join,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.
US President Barack Obama and Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, handed in ratification documents to UN chief Ban Ki-moon at a ceremony in Hangzhou on the eve of the G20 summit in China.
Mr Xi called on fellow G20 members to “take a leading role” and enter the agreement before the end of the year.
History would show that the Paris deal would “ultimately prove to be a turning point”, said Mr Obama. “Some day we may see this as the moment that we finally decided to save our planet.”
The agreement sets ambitious goals in capping global warming and helping poor countries which are facing huge challenges because of climate change.
At talks in Paris last December, nearly 200 countries agreed in principle to the binding deal to slash greenhouse gas emissions and keep global temperature increases to “well below” two degrees celsius in the long term.
The US and China are at loggerheads on a series of issues as they head into the G20 summit. But it is hoped that their collaboration on climate change could put pressure on other countries to tackle global warming. The G20 nations are responsible for about 80 per cent of global carbon emissions.
Greenpeace East Asia’s climate policy adviser, Li Shuo, said: “These backto-back meetings must see Paris move from agreement to action.”
Greenpeace is calling on Theresa May, the Prime Minister, to ratify the Paris climate deal and has organised a petition which has gathered more than 100,000 signatures.
China is responsible for just over 20 per cent of global emissions and the US covers 17.9 per cent. Britain accounts for two per cent of global emissions.
The Kyoto Protocol, which neither the US or China signed up to, took eight years to come into force after it was first agreed in 1997.