North Korea is the latest country to ratify the Paris climate agreement, becoming the 22nd nation to submit its ratification document to the United Nations. The recent ratification by the totalitarian state pushed the greenhouse gas emissions ticker of countries that have ratified the agreement to over one percent (1.09 percent). North Korea represents .23 percent of global GHG emissions, second to Cameroon among the ratifiers so far. The African nation, which ratified the agreement on July 29, represents .45 percent of global emissions.
A total of 55 nations representing 55 percent of global emissions are needed for the agreement to enter into force. In accordance with Article 21 of the Paris agreement, the deal enters into force 30 days after the necessary amount of ratifications. The world’s top two emitters, the United States and China, have committed to ratifying the agreement by the end of the year. India, the number three emitter, has indicated it will work toward the goal of ratification. The United States represents 17.89 percent of global emissions, China represents 20.09 percent of global emissions and India represents 4.10 percent of global emissions. Together they would bring the ticker to 43.16 percent.
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The European Union and its 28 member states represent 12.08 percent of world emissions. The EU is expected to ratify. Other countries working on ratification soon include Canada (1.95 percent), Mexico (1.70 percent), Iceland (0.01 percent) and Brazil (2.48 percent). In addition to North Korea and Cameroon, the countries that have ratified so far include Barbados, Belize, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Nauru, Norway, Palau, Peru, Samoa, Seychelles, Somalia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Palestine (the U.S., Israel and other countries do not recognize unilateral Palestinian statehood) and Tuvalu.
Kazakhstan recently signed the Paris climate agreement, becoming the 180th signatory country. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with with Erlan Idrissov, foreign minister of Kazakhstan, at UN headquarters in New York to congratulate his country for signing the agreement. The World Resource Institute’s Paris Contributions Map allows users to track the number of ratifications and emissions percentage as well as the number of parties signed on to the agreement.
+ Paris Agreement Tracker
Via Climate Action News
Images via Flickr
