bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

A worldwide pact to battle global warming entered into force Friday, just a week before nations reassemble to discuss how to make good on their promises to cut planet-warming greenhouse gases.
Dubbed the Paris Agreement, it is the first-ever deal binding all the world’s nations, rich and poor, to a commitment to cap global warming caused mainly by the burning of coal, oil and gas.
“A historic day for the planet,” said the office of President Francois Hollande of France, host to the 2015 negotiations that yielded the breakthrough pact.
“Humanity will look back on November 4, 2016, as the day that countries of the world shut the door on inevitable climate disaster,” UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa and Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar said in a joint statement.

Mezouar will preside over the UN meeting opening in Marrakesh on Monday.
“It is also a moment to look ahead with sober assessment and renewed will over the task ahead,” they said.
This meant drastically and urgently cutting emissions, which requires political commitment and considerable financial investment.
The urgency was brought home by a UN report on Thursday which warned that emissions trends were steering the world towards climate “tragedy”.
By 2030, said the UN Environment Programme, annual emissions will be 12 to 14 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) higher than the desired level of 42 billion tonnes.
The 2014 level was about 52.7 billion tonnes.
The year 2016 is on track to be the hottest year on record, and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere passed an ominous milestone in 2015.

Lit up in green, the Eiffel Tower in Paris proclaimed: “Accord de Paris, c’est fait!” (Paris Agreement, it’s a done deal!) -- to hail the entry into force of the pact meant to stop the rot.
The historic agreement was finally endorsed in the French capital last December, after years of complex and divisive negotiations, but the ratification was reached with record speed.
At least 55 parties to the UN’s climate convention (UNFCCC), responsible for at least 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, had to ratify it for it to take effect.
It passed the threshold last month, and by Friday it had been ratified by 97 of the 197 UNFCCC parties, representing 67.5 per cent of emissions, according to France’s environment minister Segolene Royal, outgoing president of the UN talks.
‘A turning point for the planet’: Paris climate deal ratified but hard work now begins
“It is a magnificent day, concluding years of hard work,” Royal told journalists in Paris.
“We must maintain this extraordinary momentum by encouraging countries to continue ratifying the deal, and by moving full steam ahead with our preparations to put it into action across the world,” Europe’s climate commissioner Miguel Canete said in a statement.
A major doubt looms over the process, however, as diplomats gear up for 11 days of talks in Morocco to discuss way of putting the agreement’s political undertakings into practise.
US Republican nominee Donald Trump has threatened to “cancel” Washington’s participation in the agreement if he is elected president on November 8.
“I refuse to think along these lines,” Royal said, when asked about a possible US withdrawal under Trump. “The Paris agreement prohibits any exit for a period of three years, plus a year-long notice period, so there will be four stable years,” she said.

The pact undertakes to limit global warming to “well below” two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels, and to strive for 1.5 C.
Countries submitted voluntary, non-binding carbon-cutting goals towards this goal.
According to the International Energy Agency, implementing the pledges would require investments of US$13.5 trillion in efficient and low-carbon and energy technology to 2030 -- almost 40 per cent of total energy sector spending.
“The timetable is pressing because globally, greenhouse gas emissions which drive climate change and its impacts are not falling,” said Espinosa and Mezouar.


Trump flouts science to revoke landmark US climate finding, calling it ‘giant scam’

China to dismantle local power protectionism in push to electrify national grid

Landslides displace thousands in Indonesia’s Central Java

China turns old oil pipeline into new carbon highway in green cost-cutting gambit

Climate change

Historic climate deal comes into effect in fight against global warming

(FILES) This file photo taken on November 13, 2015 shows a traffic jam as the first rains start in Jakarta, during the city's peak rush hour. The twenty-second session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22), the annual round of UN climate talks, will be held in Marrakech, from November 7 until November 18, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / ADEK BERRY

In this Oct. 19, 2016 photo provided by Will Anderson, shoots of crops are seen inside an indoor hydroponics farm owned by a local Alaska Native corporation in Kotzebue, Alaska. The goal of the venture is to grow kale, lettuces and other greens year-round, despite the region's unforgiving climate. (Will Anderson via AP)

French President Francois Hollande (R) takes a selfie with a supporter after the inauguration of the Liger Renewable Energy Center, in Locmine, western France, on November 4, 2016, on the occasion of the coming into force of a pact to battle global warming. Dubbed the Paris Agreement, it is the first-ever deal binding all the world's nations, rich and poor, to a commitment to cap global warming caused mainly from the burning of coal, oil and gas. / AFP PHOTO / JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER

A coal fired energy plant in Brilliant, Ohio. Photo: Washington Post

News

World

.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Update | Historic climate deal comes into effect in fight against global warming

Update | Historic climate deal comes into effect in fight against global warming