Roundup: Paris Agreement signed by 175 countries at UN

Heads of state and government, ministers, special envoys and ambassadors queued to ascend the podium at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly Hall on Friday to sign the Paris Agreement on climate change.

On Friday, the first day the Paris Agreement was open for signature, representatives from 175 countries signed the historic document, marking the largest one-day signing of any international agreement.

"We are breaking records in this chamber, and that is good news," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Around 11:16 a.m. local time (1516 GMT), Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, ascended the podium in the UN General Assembly Hall to sign the thick and weighty document.

"The Chinese people honor our commitments. We will work hard to earnestly implement the Paris Agreement," said Zhang while addressing the signing ceremony earlier.

China was the 21st to sign, and the whole signing process lasted some 2.5 hours.

Zhang also announced on Friday that China aims to finalize domestic legal procedures to ratify the pact before the G20 Hangzhou summit in September this year, which Ban called a "great news."

France was given the honor to sign the pact first, in recognization of its hosting of the UN climate change conference in Paris in December 2015, which gave birth to the pact after nearly two weeks of tough negotiations.

Before the actual signing took place, the secretary-general invited a group of representatives from government, diplomacy and civil society to address the session.

UN General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft praised Ban for his "tireless commitment and leadership in the long journey to Paris."

"To honor his work, to make the sacrifices made by all of you worthwhile, we know what we must do," Lykketoft told the national representatives at the meeting. "We must raise the level of ambition even further. We must take urgent and bold steps to make this transformation happen."

President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, representing the 48 Least Developed Countries (LDC), said that the declarations of ambitious actions from world leaders will send a strong signal that the time has come to turn aspirations into concrete actions.

"Today is an opportunity to outline our timetable for ensuring the agreement will have full force in international law, and will be implemented," he said.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin said the adoption of the Paris Agreement creates a reliable international legal framework uniting efforts of both developed and developing countries, including all main emitters of greenhouse gases.

"These international efforts are complemented by national emission reduction contributions," he said. "The quality of life of all people on the planet, progress towards sustainable development and capacity to counter serious global challenges including eradication of hunger and diseases, and coping with consequences of natural disasters depend on resolving climate issues."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who later put his granddaughter on his lap while signing the document, called it "an enormous privilege to be here on Earth Day."

"Paris marked the moment when the world finally decided to heed the ever-rising mountain of evidence that had been piling up for years," he said. "It marked the moment that we put to rest once and for all the debate over whether climate change is real and began instead to galvanize our focus on how, as a global community, we are going to address the irrefutable reality that nature is changing at an increasingly rapid pace due to our own choices."

Bolivian President Evo Morales, however, did not think the Paris Agreement is enough to save the planet.

"We need to examine the structural causes of the current crisis. The rights of Mother Earth are more important than our individual rights," he said.

After the signing, the Paris Agreement needs 55 nations that together account for 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions to ratify it before it can enter into force.

Other countries still have one year to ink the agreement as it is open for signature till April 21, 2017. Endi