The European Parliament yesterday approved ratification of the Paris climate accord by the European Union (EU). The action promises to push the accord soon over the threshold needed for the agreement to go into force: ratification by at least 55 countries that contribute at least 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
After the EU deposits its ratification document with the United Nations (UN)—a step the body is expected to do later this week, according to Bloomberg.com—the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Paris Agreement will come into force 30 days later. That’s soon enough for the agreement to take effect by the time nations meet again in Morocco on 7 November for the next international climate change meeting, the first to follow the historic meeting in Paris last year at which the accord was reached.
Prior to the EU action yesterday, 63 parties, which produce 52.11% of global emissions, had ratified the Paris agreement. Although the 28 EU nations must also individually ratify the agreement to be parties to it, a quarter of them have already done so, Bloomberg.com reported. These nations represent more than 4% of global emissions, so enough EU member states have already given the agreement the nod for it to go into effect as soon as the formal document deposit and 30-day period are done.
“I’m confident we’ll be able to cross the 55 percent threshold very soon, in just a matter of a few days.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a press conference after the EU ratification that “with the action taken by the European Parliament, I’m confident we’ll be able to cross the 55 percent threshold very soon, in just a matter of a few days.”
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore celebrated yesterday’s step by the EU with a tweet Tuesday: “Today, the EU voted to ratify the #ParisAgreement turning our climate hope into climate action. Now, together, we must get to work!”
—Peter L. Weiss, Senior News Editor
Citation:
Weiss, P. L. (2016), Europe to push Paris climate accord over brink to take effect, Eos, 97, https://doi.org/10.1029/2016EO060463. Published on 05 October 2016.
Text © 2016. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
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