“Celebrating Earth Day”, made by 6-year old children
World leaders from 175 countries on Friday signed the Paris Agreement on climate change at a ceremony in New York, making history as the largest number of nations to sign an international accord in a single day.Under the terms of the Paris Agreement, the pact will enter into force and become legally binding 30 days after at least 55 countries representing more than 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions have joined it through ratification, acceptance or approval. Both conditions must be met for the agreement to become legally binding. The agreement will remain open for signature until April 17, 2017.
The world’s two largest emitters, China and the US – together making up roughly 40% of global emissions – in March announced their intent to take the necessary steps to ratify the Paris Agreement later this year, and both countries signed the deal on Friday.
„ The power of this agreement is not that it guarantees that we will actually hold the increase in temperature to the target of 1.5 degrees or 2 degrees. The power of this agreement is the opportunity that it creates. The power is the message that it sends to the market place. It is the unmistakable signal that innovation, entrepreneurial activity, the allocation of capital, the decisions that governments make – all of this is what we now know definitively is what is going to define the new energy future,” said US Secretary of State John Kerry underlining America’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.
Zhang Gaoli, China’s vice premier and special envoy to Chinese President Xi Jinping, also underlined China’s commitment to the Paris Agreement. “Our signing of this agreement further demonstrates our resolve and action to address the challenge. China will make an early accession to the Paris Agreement and finalize domestic legal procedures on its accession before the G20 summit in September this year“ said Zhang to the delegates in New York. (Source: Platts, McGraw Hill Financial)
See additional overview in following video.