New Delhi: The Paris Agreement
on climate change
has become and international law today, highlighting that countries are serious about tackling global warming
by slashing man-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other global warming gases.
The agreement was ratified last month, less than a year after it was approved by 197 countries under the French Presidency at COP21 last December. The agreement marks an unprecedented milestone in the global effort to combat climate change.
Under the landmark agreement, nations have agreed to limit greenhouse gas emissions and focus efforts and investments toward a low-carbon, resilient and sustainable future. The goal is to keep global average temperatures from rising well below 2°C with the aim of working to limit it to 1.5°C.
The question now turns to implementing the terms of the agreement, helping nations meet their goals and, more critically, ratchet them further. Next week, the world meets in Marrakesh, Morocco, during COP22 to do just that.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
plans to commemorate "this historic day for both the people and the planet" by holding a conversation with civil society organizations about how they can contribute to the objectives of the Paris agreement.
The International Energy Agency
also announced that it will soon release World Energy Outlook 2016 (WEO 2016), which will highlight the various pathways to reach these targets.
“Limiting carbon emissions and changing our energy systems is a monumental challenge. But the IEA is working with governments around the world to help identify solutions and show how it can be done,” said Fatih Birol, the executive director of the IEA.
The agency report this year will looks at individual country pledges and examines how close nations are from reaching these goals. The report will also outlines a course that would limit the rise in global temperature. WEO 2016 will be released on 16 November.