Paris: French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday ratified the Paris climate deal on Wednesday, making France the first major nation to do so.
To combat climate change over 170 countries have already signed the climate deal, but this deal won’t formally take effect until 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of the world’s emissions formally ratify the deal.
"Signing (Paris climate accord) is good, but ratifying is better. The challenge now is that 55 states representing 55 per cent greenhouse gas emissions in turn ratify the treaty," Xinhua news agency quoted Hollande as saying.
Hollande also called on European partners to ratify the agreement by the end of the year.
Last week, French parliament gave the green light to government to ratify the accord.
Major emitting countries like the United States have yet to ratify the deal, though Obama administration officials have said they are working toward doing so by the end of the year.
During a summit in May, the heads of state and government of the G7 (the US, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada) pledged to energise efforts enough so that the agreement enters into force before the end of 2016.
On 12 December, 2015 climate negotiators of 196 parties adopted the accord at climate change talks which aimed at limiting global warming by two degrees Celsius.
(With Agency Inputs)
