Warmists rejoice: ‘Breakthrough as US & China agree to ratify UN Paris climate deal’
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.
Earlier China had announced it would formally ratify the Paris accord with President Xi vowing to “unwaveringly pursue sustainable development”.
“Our response to climate change bears on the future of our people and the well-being of mankind,” Xi said, according to the Associated Press.
Obama said the joint announcement showed how the world’s two largest economies were capable of coming together to fight climate change.
“Despite our differences on other issues we hope that our willingness to work together on this issue will inspire greater ambition and greater action around the world,” he said.
“We have a saying in America that you need to put your money where your mouth is,” Obama told an audience at Hangzhou’s West Lake state guesthouse. “And when it comes to combating climate change that is what we are doing … we are leading by example.”
If the Paris agreement comes into force this year as hoped, it means the nearly 200 governments party to it will become obliged to …
Obama and Xi Formally Commit U.S. and China to Paris Climate Accord
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/world/asia/obama-xi-jinping-china-climate-accord.html?_r=0
HANGZHOU, China — President Obamaand President Xi Jinping of China formally committed the world’s two largest economies to the Paris climate agreement here on Saturday, cementing their partnership on climate change and offering a rare display of harmony in a relationship that has become increasingly discordant.
On multiple fronts, like computer hacking and maritime security, ties between China and the United States have frayed during the seven and a half years of Mr. Obama’s presidency. The friction has worsened since the ascension of Mr. Xi as a powerful nationalist leader in 2013.
Yet the fact that he and Mr. Obama could set aside those tensions to work together yet again on a joint plan to reduce greenhouse gases attests to the pragmatic personal rapport they have built, as well as to the complexity of the broader United States-China relationship, a tangle of competing and congruent interests.
At a ceremony in this picturesque lakefront city, the two leaders hailed the adoption of the Paris agreement as a critical step toward bringing it into force worldwide. Together, China and the United States generate nearly 40 percent of the world’s emissions, not far from the threshold of 55 percent required for the global pact to take effect.
“Despite our differences on other issues, we hope our willingness to work together on this issue will inspire further ambition and further action around the world,” Mr. Obama declared.
Mr. Xi praised the Paris agreement as a milestone, adding, “It was under Chinese leadership that much of this progress was made.”…
UN Paris climate deal: US and China formally join pact
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37265541
The US and China – together responsible for 40% of the world’s carbon emissions – have both formally joined the Paris global climate agreement.
After arriving with other leaders of G20 nations for a summit in the city of Hangzhou, Mr Obama said: “History will judge today’s effort as pivotal.”
CO2 emissions are the driving force behind climate change.
Last December, countries agreed to cut emissions enough to keep the global average rise in temperatures below 2C.…
China ratifies Paris climate agreement
China ratifies Paris climate agreement
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2016/09/03/china-ratifies-paris-climate-agreement/
By Paul Homewood http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-37265541 From the BBC: China’s top legislature has ratified the Paris global climate agreement, state news agency Xinhua reports. The country is the world’s largest emitter of harmful CO2 emissions, which cause climate change. China and the US are expected to jointly announce ratification at a bilateral summit later on Saturday. In a landmark deal struck in December, countries agreed to cut emissions enough to keep the global average rise in temperatures below 2C. Members of China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee adopted “the proposal to review and ratify the Paris Agreement” on Saturday morning at the end of a week-long session. The Paris deal is the world’s first comprehensive climate agreement. It will only come into force legally after it is ratified by at least 55 countries, which between them produce 55% of global carbon emissions. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-37265541 But what exactly has been ratified? 1) For a start, the BBC clearly don’t understand the Paris Agreement when they say: In a landmark deal struck in December, countries agreed to cut emissions enough to keep the global average rise in temperatures below 2C. Whilst the Agreement aims to keep the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, no agreement was made to cut emissions to achieve this. Indeed, quite the opposite, as Paragraph 17 makes clear: https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/paris-agreement-will-lead-to-rise-in-ghg-emissions/ The figure of 55 Gt is an increase of 12% on 2010’s level of 49 Gt. 2) As for China themselves, their INDC only promises to peak emissions by 2030, and reduce CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 60% to 65% of 2005 levels. Because their economy has expanded so much since 2005, and is planned to grow much more up to 2030, their promise is likely to see emissions increase by at least 50% from current levels, (dependent of course on exactly how much economic growth there is). For full analysis, see here. 3) Furthermore, because it is still, inexplicably, classified as a developing country, Paris imposes no obligation, whether legal or moral, on China to reduce its GHG emissions. Barrister, Robin Guenier discussed this topic at length here. As he points out, Paragraph 4.4 of the Paris Agreement merely encourages them “to move over time towards economy-wide emission reduction or limitation targets in the light of different national circumstances”. 4) Even for developed countries, there is nothing legally …
‘UN Paris Climate Pact Remains Non-Binding, Meaningless’
http://americanenergyalliance.org/2016/08/31/10807/
President Obama will likely “join” the Paris Climate Agreement during his upcoming trip to China. What does this mean? In reality, not much. That’s because the administration knew that a binding climate treaty would need to be voted on in the Senate. Instead, they worked hard to create a non-binding agreement, which they argue would not need to be ratified by the Senate (despite President Obama’s recent attempt to portray the agreement as a treaty). However, non-binding agreements by their very nature are non-binding for future administrations.
As of now, only 23 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have ratified the agreement/treaty, representing a mere 1 percent of total global CO2 emissions. For the agreement/treaty to go into effect, 55 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, representing 55 percent of total global emissions, must ratify.
The problems with the Paris agreement are legion (as noted here, here, here, and here). These problems aside, whatever President Obama agrees to in China (or elsewhere during his Pacific Rim trip) won’t be binding for the United States. Here’s how legal expert David Wirth has explained the agreement:
The Executive Branch has indicated its intention to cement President Obama’s climate legacy by submitting its instrument of acceptance for the Paris Agreement by the end of this year. As of this writing, that has not occurred. But even if it does, the U.S.’s crucial emissions reduction undertaking is still only a non-binding aspiration not governed by international law.
As far as this and other non-binding goals articulated under the Paris Agreement, President Donald Trump, who has voiced scepticism about anthropogenic climate change, need not go through a formal withdrawal process, as required by the Agreement and international law. Instead, he need only say, “The United States changed its mind.” [Emphasis added.]
The bottom line is, for the agreement to actually have any force, it must be a treaty. Treaties must be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate (Article II, Section 2, U.S. Constitution). Any sort of legal or linguistic gymnastics have failed to assuage criticism and confusion both at home and abroad.
The Paris agreement is non-binding, carries no legal requirements for the United States, and should not be taken seriously.
…
China produces the same emissions in 18 days as Australia does in one year
…Obama to ratify UN Paris Climate Agreement before G-20 Summit, bypassing senate approval
Without the two-thirds approval needed by the senate, President Obama will ratify the Paris climate treaty ahead of G-20 Summit in China
President #Obama, despite not having the support of the senate, will sign and ratify the Paris Climate Agreement this Friday, a Chinese news outlet is reporting. The news has set off alarm bells among opponents of the#Climate Change accord, which calls for nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avert warming 1.5 degrees Celsius. Republicans have insisted that the pact is a treaty and must be ratified by the senate, as laid out in the U.S. constitution.
Obama and Chinese President XiJinping are planning to announce their joint ratification of the accord two days before the G-20 Summit begins on Sunday, September 4, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The Post also writes that “senior climate officials” from both governments have been working “late into the night” in Beijing to finalize the details. As climate change experts have noted, averting warming by 1.5 degrees won’t occur without a complete power shutdown of all greenhouse-emitting sources, which would send the world into a new stone age.
US and China to jointly announce ratification of Paris #climatedeal before G20, according to Chinese presshttp://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2008593/landmark-step-china-and-us-ratify-paris-climate-deal …
China and US to ratify landmark Paris climate deal ahead of G20 summit, sources reveal
Move may tip momentum and bring accord into force at global level.
scmp.com
Obama’s second-term dictatorship?
In the United States, only the senate can ratify treaties via a two-thirds vote. In communist China, however, a treaty only requires its leader to say, “So be it.” That’s according to Myron Ebell, the energy and environmental director at the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), who said Obama is ratifying a treaty the same way China’s communist dictator is doing it: by saying three magic words, “So be it.” Prior to being elected a second time, Obama repeatedly said he was not anemperor and he can’t wave a magic wand and do whatever he pleases. That