New York – The Paris Climate Change Agreement will enter into force following ratification by the European Union. The agreement, which was adopted in December 2015, would only come into force once it had been ratified by 55 parties, representing 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions; a threshold that was reached when the EU’s ratification instrument was deposited to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
EU ministers and the European Parliament agreed to fast-track their ratification, to meet the 7 October deadline, before the agreement had been ratified by all EU Member State legislatures. EU Environment Ministers agreed to speed up the process on 30 September, with the European Parliament giving its consent on 3 October. It was formally deposited at the UN headquarters on 4 October.
The EU’s ratification does not mean that member states will not have to ratify the agreement themselves; countries that have not ratified will have no voice in UN climate negotiations until they have done so.
Now that the agreement has been ratified by the required threshold, it will come into force on 4 November, with the launch of the agreement’s governing body, the CMA (‘Conference of the Parties to the Convention serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement’). Implementation of the agreement will be discussed during the 22nd Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 22) which will take place on 7-18 November 2016 in Marrakesh.
For more information, visit the UNFCCC Website.