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Updated | America and China ratify Paris climate change agreement
US President Barak Obama warns that the agreement alone won't solve the climate change crisis, but said he hoped it would pave the way for future progress
Last updated on 3 September 2016, 5:22pm
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
2 min read
China still depends heavily on coal for energy production
The USA and China have both formally ratified the Paris climate change agreement today.
This morning, Chinese government news agency Xinhua reported that members of the National People’s Congress, had voted “to review and ratify” the historic deal.
China's ratification of the agreement cleared a path for a much-anticipated joint US-China statement on tackling global warming.
The Paris agreement, concluded last December after two weeks of intense negotiations, must be ratified by 55 countries, representing 55% of global emissions, in order to come into effect.
China is the source of nearly a third of global carbon dioxide emissions.The decision to ratify the Paris deal was in keeping with “China’s policy of actively dealing with climate change,” the approved National People’s Congress proposal is reported to have stated.
The agreement would “further advance China’s green, low-carbon development and safeguard environmental security,” it said, adding that this step was also “conducive to China’s development interests”.
It's official: The U.S. and China have entered into the #ParisAgreement: https://t.co/RQIMfGp7rg pic.twitter.com/7IPK6WAeZD
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 3, 2016
Under the Paris agreement Xinhua said that China must cut carbon emissions by 60-65% per unit of GDP by 2030, in comparison to 2005 levels, as well as increase the percentage of non-fossil fuel energy sources to 20% of its energy consumption.
This afternoon, US President Barak Obama followed suit and put pen to paper on similar binding targets.
"Of course, the Paris Agreement alone won’t solve the climate crisis," Obama said. "But it does establish an enduring framework that enables countries to ratchet down their carbon emissions over time, and to set more ambitious targets as technology advances. That means full implementation of this agreement will help delay or avoid some of the worst consequences of climate change, and pave the way for more progress in the coming years."
