UN chief hails China, US for joining Paris Climate Agreement

Hangzhou, China (IINA) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has commended China and the United States for formally joining the Paris Agreement on climate change on Saturday.
“Now, by formally joining the Paris Agreement, you have added powerful momentum to the drive for the Agreement to enter into force this year,” Ban said in a ceremony, held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, during 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 percent of global emissions accounted for, to be exact,” the UN chief added. China and the US together account for nearly 38 percent.
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 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, deposit their instruments of ratification or acceptance with the secretary general.
“We need another 29 countries representing 16 percent of global emissions to bring this Paris Agreement into force,” Ban noted in Saturday's ceremony, which was also attended by China's President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama.
“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,” said the UN chief, who is scheduled to attend the G20 Summit in China's southeastern city of Hangzhou on Sunday.