175 NATIONS SIGN PARIS AGREEMENT, 15 RATIFY TREATY

PC: UNEP
In support of the Paris climate agreement adopted by the United Nations last December, 175 countries have signed the Paris Agreement at a ceremony at UN Headquarters.

The ceremony which held the first day the Paris Agreement was opened for signature, marked the initial step to ensure the agreement enters into force.  The agreement will enter into force 30 days after 55 countries accounting for 55 per cent of global emissions deposit their instruments of ratification.

According to United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, “The world will have met the requirement needed for the Paris Agreement to enter into force if all 175 countries that have signed today take the next step at the national level and join the Agreement.”

Fifteen countries submitted their ratifications during the signing ceremony, including small island developing countries that are on the frontlines of climate impacts.

Several countries announced plans to join the agreement in 2016, including Australia, Argentina, Cameroon, Canada, China, France, Mali, Mexico, Philippines, and the United States.  Other countries, including Brazil, the European Union, and the Russian Federation, pledged to swiftly work to complete the necessary steps for joining the agreement.

“I am very pleased to see so much support and political momentum to move the Agreement forward,” said the Secretary-General. “The spirit of multilateralism is strong” – he added.

The Secretary-General stated that participation by so many countries, and the attendance by 55 world leaders, along with leaders from civil society and the private sector, leave no doubt that the world is determined to take climate action.

French President François Hollande, who hosted the Paris climate conference, said his country would take the lead to set a price on carbon.

There was strong business engagement at the Signature Ceremony, and United Nations Global Compact Executive Director Lise Kingo called on companies around the world to set an internal carbon price at a minimum of $100 per metric ton over time.

“The Paris Agreement sends a clear signal that business and investors must put climate at the heart of decision-making,” said Ms. Kingo. “We believe that setting a $100 internal price on carbon is one of the most effective ways to drive climate deep into corporate strategy and investment. While leading companies have taken steps to price carbon, we need to see an ascent in ambition and price across the board.”

PC: UNEP

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said: “Today is a remarkable, record-breaking day in the history of international cooperation on climate change and a sustainable future for billions of people alive today and those to come.”

Figueres added, “The urgency now is to implement the Paris Agreement’s visionary pathways at a speed and scale that can deliver the next crucial steps; namely a swift peaking of global emissions, a climate neutral world in the second half of the century and the building of resilient countries and communities for every man, woman and child.”

The Paris Agreement marked a watershed moment in taking action on climate change.  After years of negotiation, countries agreed to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius, while pursuing efforts to keep temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.

Even as the agreement was adopted, countries recognised that present pledges to reduce emissions were still insufficient to reach these goals.  The Paris Agreement mandates regular meetings every five years, starting in 2018, to review progress, and to consider whether it is necessary to increase ambition.