China and U.S. open up avenue for sustainable development by ratifying Paris Agreement: UN climate chief

By ratifying Paris Agreement, China and the United States open up avenue for the world's sustainable development, and bring the historic global climate deal a big step closer to its entry into force, said United Nations climate chief Patricia Espinosa on Saturday.

"I would like today to thank China and the United States for ratifying this landmark agreement - an agreement on which rests the opportunity for a sustainable future for every nation and every person," said Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Nearly 200 countries clinched the Paris Agreement last year in Paris, agreed to jointly limit global temperature rising well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to keep global warming under 1.5 degree Celsius.

"The earlier that Paris Agreement is ratified and implemented in full, the more secure that future will become," Espinosa said in an online statement.

The Paris Agreement have been signed by 180 parties to UNFCCC. However, for the pact to come into effect, it must be ratified by at least 55 parties representing 55 percent of global carbon emissions.

On Saturday, China and the U.S. submitted their ratification documents to the United Nations, bringing the number of countries who have ratified the deal to 26. According to the UN's calculation, these countries emit 39.06 percent of global greenhouse gases.

"Bringing the Paris Agreement into force underlines that the momentum and international solidarity witnessed in 2015 continues into 2016 among big and small nations and among rich and poorer countries," Espinosa said, asking more countries to follow the ratification wave. Endit