Unconfirmed reports late last week said China and the United States plan to formally join the Paris Agreement on climate change before the beginning of the Group of 20 Summit being held Sept. 4-5 in Hangzhou, China. “Senior climate officials from both countries worked late into the night in Beijing on Tuesday to finalise details, and a bilateral announcement is likely to be made on September 2, according to sources familiar with the issue,” The South China Morning Post reported Thursday. As of press time, the White House had not confirmed these reports.
Such an announcement has been expected from China. During the April 22 signing ceremony at U.N. headquarters in New York, the nation pledged to join the accord before the upcoming summit. The United States has committed to joining the agreement by the end of the year. The U.N. will host a special event on Sept. 21 at its headquarters in New York to give nations an opportunity to formally join the agreement.
Nearly 200 nations adopted the deal in December at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). At U.N. headquarters in New York on April 22, 175 nations then signed the accord. Now nations need to ratify the agreement.
The deal will enter into force 30 days after 55 nations representing at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions deposit their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval, or accession with the U.N. If the 55-55 requirement is met by December, the agreement would enter into force in January 2017 at the latest. At this point, 23 parties representing 1.08 percent of emissions have taken this step.
The inclusion of China and the United States, the world’s top two greenhouse gas emitters, would significantly move the dial on the 55 percent requirement. China is responsible for 20.09 percent of global emissions and the U.S. accounts for 17.89 percent. If both join, the ticker will sit at 25 nations representing 39.06 percent of global emissions.
Several other nations have also signaled their intention to join the agreement by the end of the year, according to data from Climate Analytics. These nations are: Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Comoros, Costa Rica, Ghana, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Liberia, Mali, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Ukraine, Vanuatu, and Vietnam.
If all of those countries, as well as China and the U.S. join the agreement by the end of the year, that would represent 59.88 percent of global emissions and the agreement would enter into force by January 2017.
Upon entry into force, the Paris Agreement would require its member states to submit “nationally determined contributions” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and counter global temperature rise.