China praises role of Paris Agreement in climate change battle

World
Europe

Ratifying treaties and agreements concluded with foreign countries is a legally mandated duty of the NPC Standing Committee, and the Paris Agreement has been the most important achievement of the multilateral efforts to address climate change in recent years.

Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), made the remarks in the annual work report for the NPC Standing Committee on Wednesday afternoon in Beijing.

“We deliberated and ratified this agreement, which demonstrates China’s willingness to shoulder its responsibilities as a large developing country and enables China to play an even bigger role in multilateral initiatives on climate change,” said Zhang.

The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and financing starting in the year 2020.

As of December, 194 UNFCCC members had signed the treaty, 133 of which have ratified it. The agreement went into effect on November 4. But the US began backing out of it as soon as Donald Trump became president, leading advocates of the agreement to worry about its future.