Cabinet approves ratification of Paris Climate Agreement

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 28

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the ratification of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which will be formalised on October 2.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Sunday had made the announcement at the Kozhikode BJP National Council meet.

The Paris Agreement was adopted by 185 nations on December 12, 2015. India signed the Agreement in New York on April 22, 2016. A total of 191 countries have signed the Agreement so far.

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India had announced its “climate action plan on October 2 last year, after submitting to the UN its “Intended Nationally Determined Contribution” a day earlier.

As per the provisions of the Paris Agreement, the treaty will come into force as and when 55 countries contributing to 55% of total global emission ratify the agreement. So far, 61 countries have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval accounting for 47.79% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions.

India’s decision to ratify the agreement will take the number of cumulative level of emission of countries to have ratified the agreement so far to 51.89%. With the gathering momentum and willingness expressed by several other countries to ratify the agreement before the end of this year, it is expected that the Agreement will come into force soon and give a thrust to the global actions to address climate change.

With this, India will be one of the key countries that will be instrumental in bringing the Paris Agreement into force. Given the critical role that India played in securing international consensus on Paris Agreement, Wednesday’s decision will further underline India’s responsive leadership in the comity of nations committed to global cause of environmental protection and climate justice, officials say. 
The Cabinet also decided that India should declare that it would treat its national laws, its development agenda, availability of means of implementation, its assessment of global commitment to combating climate change, and predictable and affordable access to cleaner source of energy as the context in which the Agreement is being ratified. 
The Paris Agreement pertains to post-2020 climate actions. In the pre-2020 period, developed countries are to act as per the Kyoto Protocol and some developing countries have taken voluntary pledges. 

As per the Agreement, both rich and poor countries have to take action to curb the rise in global temperatures that is spelling catastrophe for glaciers resulting in increase in sea levels besides playing havoc with rain patterns. It requires countries to present national plans to reduce emissions to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.