More than two dozen countries, including Brazil and Morocco, took substantive action Wednesday to ratify last year’s Paris climate change deal to ensure it takes effect before the end of the year.
Thirty-one countries convened at a special ceremony Wednesday morning at United Nations headquarters in New York to submit documents formally ratifying last year’s agreement. Originally, only 20 countries were expected to be there to ratify it.
“The remarkable support for this agreement reflects the urgency and the magnitude of this challenge,” said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Secretary of State John Kerry said at the event that he is “absolutely confident that the Paris Agreement will come into force this year.” The U.S. ratified the deal early this month in China.
Observers say the 31 countries that ratified the climate agreement Wednesday bring the total number of countries that formally joined the Paris accord to 60, representing 48 percent of global emissions, just shy of the 55 percent required to trigger the deal to go into effect.
“This brings the agreement close to the threshold of 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of global emissions that will trigger the agreement to enter into force 30 days hence,” said Paula Caballero, the World Resources Institute global climate director. The group supports the Paris deal and has been tracking it closely.
Ratification of the deal would make it harder for opponents such as Republican nominee Donald Trump to make good on campaign promises and pull out of the agreement, which he has vowed to do if elected president in November.
The deal aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions to stop the Earth’s temperature from rising another 2 degrees over the next decade. President Obama said earlier this week at the U.N. General Assembly that the deal only works if countries pledge to continuously up their commitments going forward, which includes a protracted move away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy use.
Many scientists blame the burning of fossil fuels for increasing carbon dioxide emissions that is causing the Earth’s temperature to warm, resulting in more drought, flooding and severe weather.
