(Reuters) — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, addressing the ASEAN summit on Wednesday (September 7) in the Laotian capital Vientiane, urged member countries to ratify the Paris agreement.
In Paris last December, nearly 200 countries agreed on a binding global compact to slash greenhouse gases and keep global temperature increases to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius.
While 180 countries have now signed the agreement, 55 nations – covering at least 55 percent of global emissions – need to formally ratify the treaty to put it into legal effect.
Ban hailed host Laos for being the first ASEAN country to ratify the agreement.
“I’m grateful to Prime Minister Sisoulith and the government of Laos PDR for depositing with me this morning the legal instrument of ratification of the Paris agreement. Laos is the first ASEAN country to deposit its official document and I hope others will follow this example,” Ban said.
During the G20 summit in Hangzhou on Saturday (September 3), both the United States and China – the two world’s biggest economies – ratified the agreement. A move which could help the pact into force before the end of this year.
Before China and the United States, 23 nations had ratified – including North Korea – but they collectively accounted for just 1.08 percent of global emissions, according to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
“Twenty-seven countries as of now have ratified the agreement, accounting for some 39, a little over 39 percent of greenhouse gas emission. We need that 28 more countries ratify, and accounting for a further 16 percent of greenhouse gas emission to bring this agreement into force,” Ban said.
Experts have said the temperature target is already in danger of being breached, with the U.N.’s weather agency saying 2016 is on course to be the warmest year since records began.
China represents just over 20 percent of global emissions while the United States accounts for 17.9 percent, Russia 7.5 percent and India 4.1 percent.