Paris Climate global agreement to combat climate change to take effect from Nov 04,2016 Wednesday Oct 05,2016

The Paris Climate global agreement to combat climate change will take force after support from European nations sent the accord across an important threshold on Wednesday Oct 05,2016, prompting U.S. President Barack Obama to hail it as a “historic day” for protecting the planet.

European nations, Canada, Bolivia and Nepal raised backing for the 2015 Paris Agreement to countries representing 56.87 per cent of world greenhouse gas emissions, above the 55 per cent needed for implementation, a United Nations website showed.

The deal will formally start in 30 days on Nov. 4, four days before the U.S. presidential election in which Republican Donald Trump opposes the accord and Democrat Hillary Clinton strongly supports it.

China and the United States joined up last month in a joint step by the world's top emitters.

US President Barack Obama called Wednesday Oct 05,2016 “a historic day in the fight to protect our planet for future generations” and he told reporters on the White House Rose Garden, “If we follow through on the commitments that this Paris agreement embodies, history may well judge it as a turning point for our planet.”

Germany, France, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Portugal and Malta - European Union nations which have completed domestic ratification and account for about four percent of emissions - formally signed up on Wednesday Oct 05,2016

The Paris Agreement on climate change will legally take effect November 4, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced Wednesday after nine more countries ratified the pact

Canada, Nepal and seven European Union countries ratified the pact Wednesday, bringing the total number of governments that have approved it to 62. Nearly 200 nations signed the Paris Agreement, which comes into force 30 days after U.N. certification that at least 55 nations, responsible for at least 55 percent of the world's pollution, have ratified the pact.

In total, 73 countries out of 195 have ratified the agreement, according to the U.N. website. “Great job!” tweeted European Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete

With the joining of the latest batch, so far, 73 countries have now ratified the agreement and together they account for 56.87 per cent of global greenhouse gases. This meets the double threshold — at least 55 countries together accounting for at least 55 per cent of global emissions — that was required for the agreement to enter into force.

Note

The Paris Agreement requires all nations to cut emissions enough to limit the global temperature increase to less than two degrees Celsius, measured against climate records dating back to the Industrial Revolution.

Many nations will have to start reducing fossil fuel use by switching to renewable energy sources instead of oil, coal and gas.