Views on Paris climate deal signing: 'A step on a long journey'

Zebra

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http://in.reuters.com/article/us-paris-climate-idINKCN0XJ1J6

Views on Paris climate deal signing: 'A step on a long journey'


By Megan Rowling Fri Apr 22, 2016 8:11pm IST


BARCELONA
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Around 170 countries are set to sign the Paris agreement on climate change in New York on Friday, signaling their commitment to put the landmark deal to curb global temperature rise into practice.

Environment and development groups praised the political will demonstrated by the high-level event, which they said was an important step toward implementation of the agreement.

But they warned that governments must now act urgently to follow through on their promises, deliver meaningful action to curb climate change and protect poor people from its impacts.

In the deal reached in December, governments agreed to limit global temperature rise to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times and pursue efforts to keep it to 1.5 degrees.

It will enter into force when at least 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of global emissions ratify or formally join it - which could be earlier than 2020, the date originally planned.

If the deal takes effect sooner, climate change experts hope it could provide impetus for countries to raise their targets for reducing planet-warming emissions, and boost support to help vulnerable countries defend themselves against worsening extreme weather and rising seas........
 

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http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-...rs-from-171-countries-signing-paris-deal.html

Leaders from 171 countries sign Paris deal

Updated: 5:04 am, Saturday, 23 April 2016

Leaders from 171 countries have signed the Paris Agreement on climate change, as the landmark deal took a key step forward, potentially entering into force years ahead of schedule.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, holding his young granddaughter, on Friday joined dozens of world leaders for a signing ceremony that sets a record for international diplomacy: Never have so many countries signed an agreement on the first available day.

States that don't sign Friday have a year to do so.

'We are in a race against time,' UN secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the gathering.

'The era of consumption without consequences is over.

'Many now expect the climate agreement to enter into force long before the original deadline of 2020. Some say it could happen this year.

After signing, countries must formally approve the Paris Agreement through their domestic procedures.

The United Nations says 15 countries, several of them small island states under threat from rising seas, were doing that Friday by depositing their instruments of ratification.

China, the world's top carbon emitter, announced it will 'finalise domestic procedures' to ratify the Paris Agreement before the G-20 summit in China in September.

Ban immediately welcomed the pledge.

The United States also has said it intends to join the agreement this year.

The world is watching anxiously: Analysts say that if the agreement enters into force before President Barack Obama leaves office in January, it would be more complicated for his successor to withdraw from the deal because it would take four years to do so under the agreement's rules.

The United States put the deal into economic terms. 'The power of this agreement is what it is going to do to unleash the private sector,' Kerry told the gathering, noting that this year is again shaping up to be the hottest year on record.

The agreement will enter into force once 55 countries representing at least 55 per cent of global emissions have formally joined it.

Maros Sefcovic, the energy chief for another top emitter, the 28-nation European Union, has said the EU wants to be in the 'first wave' of ratifying countries.French President Francois Hollande, the first to sign the agreement, said on Friday he would ask parliament to ratify it by this summer.

France's environment minister is in charge of global climate negotiations.

'There is no turning back now,' Hollande told the gathering.

Countries that had not yet indicated they would sign the agreement on Friday include some of the world's largest oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Nigeria and Kazakhstan, the World Resources Institute said Thursday.

The Paris Agreement, the world's response to hotter temperatures, rising seas and other impacts of climate change, was reached in December as a major breakthrough in UN climate negotiations, which for years were slowed by disputes between rich and poor countries over who should do what.

Under the agreement, countries set their own targets for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

The targets are not legally binding, but countries must update them every five years.



AAP
 

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Faith Community Urges World Leaders to Sign Climate Pact

Published on Apr 19, 2016 , by VOA News
 

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-among-175-countries-to-sign-historic-Paris-climate-deal/articleshow/51948273.cms

India among 175 countries to sign historic Paris climate deal

Vishwa Mohan | TNN | Apr 22, 2016, 10.46 PM IST

Prakash Javadekar signed the agreement on behalf of India. The agreement aims to take multiple measures to save the world from disastrous consequences of climate change and was adopted by 195 countries in Paris on December 12, 2015.

NEW DELHI: As many as 175 countries, including India, China and the US, signed the Paris Agreement on climate change at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday, to coincide with 'International Mother Earth Day'. This was the first day of the signing ceremony of the historic global deal....................
 

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