Russia formally joins Paris Agreement on Climate Change

Russia has formally accepted the 2015 Paris agreement on Climate Change. The Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev has recently signed a document in this regard. As per the document Russia will now allocate financial resources towards developing countries for prevention of and adaptation to climate change.

Key Highlights

United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York: The formal support by Russia to Paris climate agreement comes came just hours ahead of a new major UN climate summit. The new major Climate Action Summit in New York is aimed towards reinvigorate faltering Paris accord as mankind is releasing more greenhouse gases than ever into the atmosphere. It is trying to tackle ever increasing gas emissions.

What is Paris Agreement? It is an agreement within United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) that was signed in 2016. It deals with greenhouse-gas-emissions (GHG) mitigation, adaptation, and finance.

This agreement on climate change gives countries a choice in how to join accords by ratification, acceptance, approval/accession to agreement which depends on their national legislation.

Important Fact

Russia is world’s fourth largest emitter.

Russia had signed the Paris accord in 2016, however, the recent decision to ‘accept’ the accord signifies Russia’s consent to obligations under Paris Agreement.

As of now there are 11 countries which are yet to formally ratify Paris Agreement. These are: Iran, Oman, Yemen, Angola, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, South Sudan, Suriname, and Eritrea.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2019