With new commitments to ratify the Paris Climate Agreement, the deal could enter into force by the end of 2016, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said during a ceremony on Wednesday that brought the number of state parties to the agreement to 60.

At a high-level event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, 31 countries officially joined the agreement by demonstrating that they had set the climate deal into their national legislation. The agreement needs to be ratified by 55 countries accounting for at least 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions to enter into force. 

The 60 countries that have formally joined the agreement account for 47.5 per cent of global emissions. "We have crossed one threshold and the emissions threshold is within reach," Ban told reporters after the ceremony. 

Ban said that another 13 countries had pledged to ratify the deal before the end of the year, which will allow the agreement to enter into force by going "well past" the required emissions amount. "I am convinced that the Paris Agreement will enter into force before the end of 2016," he said. "What once seemed impossible is now inevitable. This momentum is remarkable."

Source : XINHUA