India to ratify Paris Agreement on climate change

Addressing the BJP’s National Council meet in Kozhikode, Modi outlined the need to ratify the CoP21 agreement saying there is a looming threat due to global warming to many coastal countries and cities.

New Delhi had previously expressed reservations on the deal, arguing that it would have a negative impact on India’s development.

In this context, he said, Morocco “will ensure that the Marrakech Conference attaches particular importance to southern countries, including African and island states, which are suffering the perils of climate change”.

Mr Ban urged leaders of nations that have yet to ratify the accord to accelerate their domestic procedures to join the agreement.

It was also on October 2 past year that India had submitted its action plan, called the ‘Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which eventually led to a deal at COP21 in Paris in December 2015.

It will enter into force 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, deposit their instruments of ratification.

Ban Ki-Moon, who has made climate change a top priority since he became secretary-general almost 10 years ago, has been urging world leaders to bring the Paris Agreement into force by the end of the year. Among BASIC nations, India, Russia and South Africa are yet to sign the agreement.

India’s environment minister Anil Madhav Dave said, “It is a huge step from India”. The ratification of decisions made in the COP 21 is yet to be done by many countries including India. “We welcome the news India will join the #ParisAgreement October 2”, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma said. “We shall do it next week, October 2, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi”, said Modi.

Modi said he had chosen the date, which is next Sunday, as Mahatma Gandhi’s life was an example of minimum carbon footprint.

China and the United States, the two largest emitters, gave a major boost to the accord when they signed on during a summit earlier this month between Presidents Xi Jinping and Barack Obama.