Ban Ki-moon urges G20 to follow US and China and ratify Paris agreement

UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon on Sunday urged the G20 members to follow the US and China and ratify the climate change agreement reached during the COP21 conference in Paris last December.

“I urge all leaders, particularly G20 countries, to accelerate their domestic ratification processes so we can turn the aspirations of Paris into the transformative climate action the world so urgently needs,” Ban said at a press conference in Hangzhou, eastern China.

From Sunday onwards, Hangzhou is hosting a twoday G20 summit which will mark Ban’s last participation as UN SecretaryGeneral before his term concludes at the end of this year.

The UN chief recommended that the leaders of the developed and emerging countries that are part of the Group of 20 to make use of the momentum from the ratification of the climate pact by the US and China, two of the world’s largest polluters.

US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Hangzhou yesterday formalized their commitment to the Paris agreement and the fight against global warming.

Ban said the COP21 pact has now been ratified by 26 of the nearly 200 countries that signed the agreement, accounting for 30 percent of global emissions; it now requires another 29 countries representing 16 per cent of global emissions to bring it into force.

In addition to ratifying the agreement, Ban urged G20 members to provide financial and technical support required for the pact to become applicable.

The SecretaryGeneral emphasized the need for the G20 to have a longterm vision in the fight against climate change, in addition to working together to resolve other key challenges such as poverty, inequality and conflict.

Ban said he trusted the G20 summit to approve an action plan to comply with Agenda 2030, a UN agenda for sustainable development, and urged member countries to align their national goals in accordance with this program.