The number of signatories to the Paris Agreement grew slightly this week, to 177, with the addition of Seychelles and Gambia, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change said Thursday.
The vast majority of participating nations inked the accord on April 22 when it first opened for signatures.
Fifteen parties have also ratified the deal: Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Somalia, the state of Palestine, Barbados, Belize, Fiji, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Tuvalu, Maldives, Saint Lucia, and Mauritius.
The Paris Agreement will come into force 30 days after it has been ratified by at least 55 nations representing 55 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. The 15 ratifying nations contribute just 0.04 percent emissions. However, a total of 38 nations have ratified or have indicated their intention to ratify in 2016; that includes top emitters China and the United States, and would bring the percentage to 51.67, according to Climate Analytics.
Nearly 200 nations approved the agreement last December, offering commitments intended to keep global temperature rise this century “well below” 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, with the more ambitious target of a 1.5-degree spike.
On Thursday, the Shell-backed Energy Transitions Commission said an assessment of 17 intended nationally determined contributions to the Paris Agreement – 16 from individual states, plus the European Union, which combined to produce 78 percent of energy-linked carbon dioxide emissions in 2012 – found that “more radical actions will be required to drive transition to zero-carbon energy systems” in order to stay below the 2-degree threshold.
It has been widely accepted that the Paris Agreement is the start of the process rather than the resolution, and nations are required to update their INDCs every five years beginning in 2018.
The analysis, conducted by consulting firm Ecofys, pointed to the need for no less than 1 percent annual growth in the amount of low-carbon energy sources in the global energy supply and 3 percent or higher yearly improvements in energy productivity. Greater worldwide cooperation in financial and technological support for emissions cuts will also be crucial, the report says.
The 17 INDCs suggested just 0.4 percent boosts in low-carbon energy application per year and 1.8 percent for energy productivity, according to commission Chairman Adair Turner.
“We hope this analysis and the ETC’s further work will help government to improve their INDCs as part of the next global stocktake in 2018, putting us on a clear path to limit global temperature increases to well below” 2 degrees, Turner said in a press release.
