Centre to ratify Paris climate treaty on Oct 2

India will ratify the Paris climate change agreement on October 2, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. “There is one work left in the CoP21 (Conference of Parties on the UN climate agreement that took place in Paris). The ratification is yet to be done. On the birth anniversary of Deendayal Upadhyay, I announce that India will ratify the decisions on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the BJP national council meet at Kozhikode.

Once ratified, India will formally be a member of the Paris pact and will abide by its provision. However, no immediate administrative and policy decisions are needed as the treaty will kick in only after 2020 and there is no compulsion on India to reduce big emission.

In India, the Union Cabinet will decide on the ratification. For many other countries, the procedure involves a sitting of the national parliament. Canada, Australia, South Africa and Russia indicated that they would ratify the Paris treaty by October.

China did it in September 2016, while the US, the world’s largest polluter, only accepted the treaty and is yet to ratify it. The decision will be taken by the new US president, who will take office in January. The Paris agreement seeks to combat climate change and unleash actions and investment towards a low carbon economy.

Its main aim is to keep the rise of global temperature this century well below two degrees Celsius and to initiate efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius, above pre-industrial levels. Modi said he had chosen October 2 as Gandhi’s life was an example of minimum carbon footprint.

The Father of the Nation’s famous quotation — the world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed — was extensively used by Modi and then environment minister Prakash Javadekar in their speeches and documents during the United Nation’s Paris Climate Conference and in the run up to the summit.

Underscoring the need to ratify the COP21 decision, Modi said there was a looming threat due to global warming to many coastal countries and cities. While more than 190 countries agreed to the Paris climate change treaty, 60 nations, accounting for 47.76% of global pollution, ratified the treaty till September 21. Earlier, India had sought more time for ratification due to apprehensions that any hasty decision may impact its developmental projects.