The Paris Agreement on climate change on Monday officially turned 1 year old.
One year ago today the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was in overtime it adopted the agreement during the evening of Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015. The crowd went wild.
A year later, the cheers continue. “In less than 12 months the Paris climate agreement entered into force and almost weekly, more countries ratify. Meanwhile nations, cities, regions, businesses and investors continue to signal their unwavering support through practical action, shifts in investments and ever more ambitious pledges,” UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa said in a press release Monday.
After its unanimous adoption by the nearly 200 nations of the UNFCCC, the agreement opened for signature on April 22, 2016, and to date has garnered 194 signatures. Its entry into force was triggered on Oct. 5, with a count of 74 nations representing a total of 58.82 percent of global emissions – far above the mandatory 55/55 threshold.
As of Monday, 117 nations have ratified the agreement, most recently Kazakhstan and Zambia. The parties to the agreement represent roughly 80 percent of global emissions.
The agreement entered into force on Nov. 4, just days before the launch of COP22 in Marrakesh, Morocco. Its member parties now will move to carry out their commitments to keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius.
“This urgency and this action needs not only to continue but to go to scale and gather ever more speed over 2017 and the years and decades to come—because current ambition still falls short of what is needed,” Espinosa said.