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Paris climate deal set to be signed by record number of states Paris climate deal set to be signed by record number of states
(about 2 hours later)
A Paris deal to slow climate change is set to be signed by more than 165 countries at the United Nations on Friday, the most states to endorse an international agreement on day one – a record backers hope will inspire swift implementation. About 170 countries gathered at the United Nations for a ceremonial signing of the landmark Paris agreement on Friday, in a powerful display of global efforts to fight climate change.
Many states still need a parliamentary vote to formally approve the agreement. It will only enter into force when ratified by at least 55 nations representing 55% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. A dozen countries – mainly the small island states at risk of being drowned by rising seas – said they would take the additional step on Friday of ratifying or granting legal approval to the agreement.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon “wants to use the event to generate momentum around implementation and early entry into force of the Paris agreement,” said Selwin Hart, director of Ban’s climate change support team. The renewed commitments, and the personal appearance at the UN by about 60 heads of state, delivered a sense of momentum to efforts to bring the agreement into force far earlier than had originally been hoped.
Some experts predict the 55% thresholds can be reached this year. The UN said 13 countries, mostly small island developing states, are due to deposit instruments of ratification on Friday. The agreement reached in Paris by 196 countries still needs formal approval from 55 countries representing 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions to come into force. In some cases, that means a vote in parliament.
The UN expects some 60 heads of state and government at the signing ceremony. French President François Hollande and Hollywood actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio are expected to attend. The US, China and India - the three biggest climate polluters - have all committed to join the agreement, possibly as early as this year.
The previous first-day record for signatures was set in 1982 when 119 states signed the Convention on the Law of the Sea. Leaders said the events on Friday were a sign that governments, business leaders and campaign groups were aligned with trying to move swiftly to phase out the use of fossil fuels and move almost entirely to clean sources of energy by the middle of the century.
“It’s happening much faster than anyone anticipated or expected,” Hart said. “Independent analysis suggests that at least one of the top four emitters must ratify the agreement” for it to surpass the 55% of emissions threshold. “Today’s signing ceremony reaffirms the commitments made last December and delivers a jolt of energy to international climate efforts,” Felipe Calderon, the former president of Mexico, said.
China and the US, the world’s top emitters accounting together for 38% of emissions, are due to sign, along with Russia and India, who round out the top four. The signature ceremony, kicked off by Francois Hollande, as host of the Paris climate talks, will be an elaborate affair. Leaders will make their way one-by-one in alphabetical order to a special podium at the General Assembly to sign the single copy of the agreement, translated into six languages.
Related: US and China lead push to bring Paris climate deal into force early Amid the celebratory atmosphere, with Leonardo di Caprio scheduled to appear, leaders and scientists agreed: the measures covered by the Paris agreement still fall far short of reaching the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5C to 2C above pre-industrial levels, and time is running out.
Many developing nations are pushing to ensure the climate deal comes into force this year, partly to lock in the US if a Republican opponent of the pact is elected president in November. Last year was the hottest year since record keeping began in 1880. Temperatures for the first three months of this year have already demolished that record – confounding scientists by the scale and pace of temperature rise.
Even if the pact is fully implemented, promised greenhouse gas cuts are insufficient to limit warming to an agreed maximum, the UN says. In the Arctic, there was almost no winter, with temperatures at the North Pole rising above freezing even in December, the depths of the polar night. Temperatures were 30C above normal.
The first three months of 2016 have broken temperature records and 2015 was the warmest year since records began in the 19th century, with heat waves, droughts and rising sea levels. On Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, some 93% of coral showed evidence of bleaching, because of long term ocean warming due to carbon emissions, and the El Nino weather phenomenon.
Related: March temperature smashes 100-year global record
Warm waters have done widespread damage to corals in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and sea ice in the Arctic hit a record winter low last month.
“The magnitude of the changes has been a surprise even for veteran climate scientists,” said Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organisation.
Jake Schmidt of the Natural Resources Defense Council said the high turnout on Friday “increases the chances that it (the agreement) will enter into force this year.”
President Barack Obama says he does not need Senate approval to ratify the agreement. Once the accord enters into force, a little-noted Article 28 says any nation wanting to withdraw must wait four years, the length of a US presidential term.
“There is a clear cry globally for climate action,” a senior US State Department official said.