At least 34 countries committed to formally joining the climate change deal signed in New York Friday, leading White House officials to feel optimistic about the agreement’s viability.
While 175 countries signed the Paris Agreement at the United Nations on Friday, those signatures mean only that those nations intend to “join” the deal. Formally joining the Paris Agreement means approving the international agreement domestically and taking on the greenhouse gas emissions cuts required in the deal.
Brian Deese, senior adviser to President Obama, said 34 countries committed to taking on that process as soon as possible, with an eye toward doing so this year. Those countries represent 49 percent of global emissions.
To be ratified, the agreement needs 55 countries representing 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions to officially join the deal. Deese said that threshold could be met sooner than anyone thought possible.
“It puts us within striking distance,” he said.
The agreement is the first-ever worldwide accord on fighting climate change. Initially agreed to in December, the deal saw 196 countries come up with their own plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius.
However, the deal is not legally binding. Studies show the planned emissions cuts would not limit the temperature rise enough, and critics say the deal lacks bite because it is unable to punish countries for not living up to their commitments.
In addition, the funding for the deal, which would see rich countries finance poorer countries’ efforts to fight climate change, is not legally required.
Deese and Jonathan Pershing, the U.S. special envoy for climate change, spoke with reporters Monday afternoon after a weekend of meetings in New York centered around the deal. The U.S. delegation participated in the Major Economies Forum with other major polluters from around the world on Saturday and Sunday.
Pershing said the discussion mostly focused on formalizing the rules and processes for implementing the agreement in major countries, how to build green infrastructure in developing countries and how to leverage private investment toward fighting climate change.
He added that countries also seem to be on board with limiting hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, in 2016. HFCs are potent greenhouses gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning that were intended to replace ozone-reducing substances.
Last year, the 197 members of the Montreal Protocol agreed to amend the agreement to limit HFCs in 2016. Pershing said he thinks that will happen later this year and the agreement could mean forestalling a half-degree of global warming.
“There is a groundswell of support for actually doing it,” Pershing said.
“There is a sense that this is one the most significant things that could be delivered on the climate side.”
While that half-degree could end up being important, most of the work of the Paris Agreement is yet to come, Deese conceded.
The agreement encourages countries to examine their emission cuts every five years with the goal to ratchet them down further as time goes on. He said it’s important for the agreement to becoming binding and enter into force early to get countries on the right track toward planning for those cuts.
“We all recognize the need for Paris to provide a framework to support and encourage greater ambition over time,” Deese said. “The earlier the Paris Agreement enters into force, and the earlier the key issues are resolved, the greater the momentum toward action will be.”
