While the news on the climate itself is rarely good there’s good news when it comes to changing directions on how we deal with climate issues.
Heads of state and high level diplomats from more than 170 countries signed the Paris Agreement at the United Nations Friday, a key step toward implementing the world’s most significant agreement to address global warming.
This isn’t just a big number of small nations signing on, the signatory nations represent 93% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. One of those signers would be the United States. And not only are we signing on, the agreement was intentionally structured so that it could be ratified in the US without needing votes in the Senate.
The language in the agreement is particularly helpful for the United States, where a Senate battle could have stalled implementation for years. Kerry said Friday the U.S. would ratify the document by the end of this year, suggesting that the White House would not submit the document for Senate approval. China also committed on Friday to ratifying the agreement before a G-20 summit in September. The U.S. and China together account for 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
This isn’t a “mission accomplished,” and it’s certainly no time for a victory lap. But considering that no other treaty netted more than 119 signatories and that those often lacked the nations most associated with greenhouse gases, it’s certainly a move in the right direction. The next step is getting 55 percent of those nations that have signed to ratify the agreement.
Happy Earth Day! Oh, and that blast of warm air you feel? That’s Republican senators bloviating over their inability to stop this agreement from actually doing some good.