A total of 175 parties Friday signed the Paris Agreement, taking a significant toward bringing the climate change accord into force. “Let us stand back and take this in for just a moment. This is history in the making,” United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said Friday, opening the formal signing ceremony. “The spirit of solidarity of Paris still lives.”
The agreement, the first of its kind to include climate action contributions from developing and developed nations, was adopted in December during the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The signatures signal nations’ intentions to join the agreement, a step that is achieved upon the submission of domestic statements of ratification, acceptance, or approval.
The agreement will come into force once at least 55 parties, representing at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emission, have joined. “We are in a race against time,” Ban said. “I urge all countries to join the agreement at the national level so that the Paris Agreement can enter into force as early as possible.”
Entry into force will prove much more difficult than obtaining the signatures, which on Friday came from 174 nations and the European Union. Fifteen countries Friday also submitted their documents of ratification: Barbados, Belize, Fiji, Grenada, Maldives, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Nauru, Palau, the State of Palestine, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Somalia, and Tuvalu. These countries only represent .03 percent of global emissions.
A significant chunk of the 55 percent requirement will be met by China, which announced Friday before signing the agreement that it will join the Paris Agreement ahead of the next G20 Summit, scheduled for September. China represents 20.09 percent of global emissions. “The Chinese people honor their commitments. We will work hard to earnestly implement the Paris Agreement,” Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli said before Friday’s ceremony.
The United States, which signed the agreement Friday and which represents 17.89 percent of global emissions, has also indicated its intention to join the agreement before the end of the year.
Australia, Argentina, Cameroon, Canada, France, Mali, Mexico, and the Philippines have also indicated an intention to join early. The agreement is anticipated come into force within the next two years.
Secretary of State John Kerry represented the United States at the ceremony, as President Barack Obama was traveling abroad. Addressing the audience of delegates and world leaders, Kerry stressed the role of clean energy in addressing climate change. “The new energy future, the efficiencies, the alternative resources, the clean options — none of what we have to achieve is beyond our capacity technologically. The only question is whether it is beyond our collective resolve,” he said.
Unsurprisingly, not everyone was pleased with the signing ceremony; as international climate efforts moved to U.S. shores, dissenters in Congress voiced their opinion. “President Obama is trying to buy a legacy and pay for it with American jobs. With the stroke of a pen, his administration will force more job-killing regulations on Americans for negligible gain,” longtime deal critic Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said in a statement Friday.
