World leaders meet to sign Paris Agreement in New York
Digital Reporter
Friday, April 22, 2016, 12:55 PM - This Earth Day marks a historic event as over 160 countries are expected to sign one of the most important agreements for the future of the planet.
The Paris Agreement came out of negotiations at the COP21 summit in Paris last December and world leaders will meet on Friday to sign it at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
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At least 155 national governments are expected to sign the agreement on April 22 and those who don't have a year to add their signatures.
"This would be a landmark in international law, as the number of signatories of the Paris Agreement would then surpass the previous record of 119 signatures for an opening day signing for an international agreement, set by the Law of the Sea in Montego Bay in 1982," the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change said in a news release.
To become international law, the agreement must be signed and ratified. Selwin Hart, director of the Secretary General's Climate Change Support team, told reporters during a briefing Tuesday that he predicts 10 countries will deposit their instruments of ratification.
The Paris Agreement will go into effect 30 days after at least 55 countries, representing 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, confirm their ratification or agreement to the UN secretary general. The United States and China account for nearly 40 per cent of global emissions and both have said they intend to sign and ratify.
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While each country has their own targets for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, the objectives are not legally binding. However, they must update them every five years.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna are both in New York for the signing. Canada will first prepare its own climate plan before ratifying this fall.
"We need to have a plan to meet our international obligations, and we have six months to do that," she told CBC.
The agreement sets a global goal of limiting warming to only 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial times.
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