Prime Minister tells UN General Assembly the UK will start its domestic ratification process and will 'continue to play our part in the international effort against climate change'
The UK has become the latest country to set a clear timeline for ratifying the Paris Agreement, after Prime Minister Theresa May used her first speech to the UN General Assembly to declare the government would deliver domestic ratification of the deal before the end of the year.
Speaking in New York yesterday, May said that under her premiership the UK would be UK "a confident, strong and dependable partner internationally" that would remain fully committed to meeting the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and delivering on the Paris Agreement.
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"We will continue to play our part in the international effort against climate change," she said. "And in a demonstration of our commitment to the agreement reached in Paris, the UK will start its domestic procedures to enable ratification of the Paris agreement, and complete these before the end of the year."
In some of her first public comments on environmental issues, May stressed that she regards climate change as a major threat to global stability and prosperity, alongside terrorism, poverty, mass migration, and human rights abuses.
Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said the move to ratify the agreement underlined the UK's determination to "tackle climate change to help create a safer and more prosperous future for all".
"The UK played a major role when the world came together last year and we will continue to play our part in the transition to a low carbon economy as we continue to provide secure, affordable and clean energy at home," he added.
The news was immediately welcomed by business groups and green campaigners.
"Theresa May has shown welcome leadership on the world stage today by announcing the UK's upcoming ratification of the Paris Agreement," said Nick Molho, executive director of the Aldersgate Group of businesses. "Together with the government's recent approval of the fifth carbon budget, this decision will help the UK maintain an influential role alongside other countries such as China and the United States in international efforts to tackle climate change and help the UK secure an important share of the growing global low carbon economy, which was recently valued at $5.5tn."
His comments were echoed by Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven who hailed the move as "a welcome moment of clarity amidst the all-pervading Brexit uncertainty".
However, he urged the government to move swiftly to complete ratification and bring forward its long awaited decarbonisation plan to show how it will meet its emission targets for the 2020s and 2030s.
"Some of the world's major economies have already ratified the Paris deal," he said. "So why is the UK government taking so long? Once the deal has come into force, Theresa May will still face the much bigger task of putting in place a coherent set of green energy policies that can help the UK meet its climate commitments. There's still hope Britain can do a Usain Bolt - slow off the starting blocks in ratifying the Paris deal but quick to leap ahead in the race to harness clean, green power."
It remains to be seen if the completion of the UK's domestic ratification will be followed by it submitting the relevant documents with the UN, given the EU has traditionally moved as a bloc to approve UN climate deals. Some officials have signalled that it is important that EU member states do not break ranks and submit ratification documents separately as such a move would ease pressure on the handful of states thought to be pushing for less ambitious climate policies across the bloc.
However, with the EU signalling last week that it is keen to fast track full ratification across the bloc the UK's move increases the chances of the treaty coming into force this year.
For the Paris Agreement to come into full effect at least 55 countries representing more than 55 per cent of global emissions have to formally ratify the deal.
Ukraine this week became the latest country to ratify, adding one per cent to the share of global emissions represented and taking the level of ratification pass the 40 per cent threshold. The UK represents around a further two per cent of global emissions and hopes are mounting the 55 per cent mark can be reached before President Obama leaves the White House in January.
At least 20 more countries are expected to formally announce ratification or lodge the relevant documents with the UN at an official event at UN headquarters later today.
May's speech followed an address to the General Assembly from US President Barack Obama in which he called for increased investment in low carbon infrastructure and explicitly linked climate change and the increased risk of conflict and mass migration.
"If we don't act boldly, the bill that could come due will be mass migrations, and cities submerged and nations displaced, and food supplies decimated, and conflicts born of despair," he said. "The Paris Agreement gives us a framework to act, but only if we scale up our ambition. And there must be a sense of urgency about bringing the agreement into force, and helping poorer countries leapfrog destructive forms of energy."
Meanwhile, French president Francois Hollande reiterated his call for the Paris Agreement to be brought into force as soon as possible so that international attention can turn to delivering on its goals.
"COP21 was the conference for decisions," he said. "COP22 [in Marrakesh] will be that of solutions. It is about the global solar alliance, the fight against desertification, protecting the oceans and putting a price on carbon."
The latest developments come in the same week as the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership published a new report calling on more businesses to plan for the economic transition that the Paris Agreement will deliver.
The wide-ranging treaty sets goals to keep temperature increases well below 2C and deliver a net zero emission economy this century through a series of national climate action plans that can be reviewed and strengthened every five years.
As a result the agreement is widely expected to help mobilise trillions of dollars of clean tech investment, enable wider use of carbon pricing policies, and result in a fundamental shift in global infrastructure and business models.
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