Hot on the heels of Chinese ratification of the Paris Climate Accord by the NPC Saturday, news media covering the G20 meeting in Hangzhou are reporting that Sunday (Saturday in USA) Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jin-ping will make a joint announcement both countries will formally ratify the Climate Accord.
As The Guardian reports:
The United States and China, the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, have announced they will formally ratify the Paris climate change agreement in a move campaigners immediately hailed as a significant advance in the battle against global warming.
Speaking on Saturday, on the eve of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, US president, Barack Obama, confirmed the long-awaited move, the result of weeks of intense negotiations by Chinese and American officials.
“Just as I believe the Paris agreement will ultimately prove to be a turning point for our planet, I believe that history will judge today’s efforts as pivotal,” said Obama, who was speaking in the presence of the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.
“Where there is a will and there is a vision and where countries like China and the United States are prepared to show leadership and to lead by example, it is possible for us to create a world that is more secure, more prosperous and more free than the one that was left for us,” added Obama, for whom the commitment is part of a final push to secure a green legacy for his presidency.
While a formal ratification by the USA would require a reluctant Congress to act, Obama spoke with confidence and seems to be staking his legacy on the fact that a commitment by China would provide the necessary pressure to break the deadlock.
Having gained the endorsement of the NPC and NPCC, Xi is virtually assured China will ratify the treaty with his signature
When Obama and Xi meet in November 2014 and announced a bilateral agreement to reduce emissions ahead of the Paris negotiations, skeptics cast doubts on their intentions and ability to make good on the deal. In fact, the bilateral deal was quite influential in Paris, and with this show of solidarity between the US and China, I will hazard the opinion that there is now a chance that the US Congress, absent the usual excuses about China, may now be shamed to act.
A world suffering the irrefutable effects of Atmospheric Global Warming waits and wonders.
YOU MUST DO YOUR PART. SUPPORT DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES TO TAKE BACK CONGRESS.