Sri Lanka will sign the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at its Signing Ceremony to be held on today at the United Nations headquarters, New York.

Minister of Science, Technology and Research Susil Premajayantha will be signing the agreement on behalf of the Sri Lankan Government.

Sri Lanka at the 21st session of the United Nations Framework Convention held in the French capital of Paris on Environmental disaster (UNFCCC) last year agreed to contribute to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

The Minister will also attend the UN General Assembly on the World Drug Problem and the High Level Thematic Debate on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which is being held from 19-21 April at the UN Headquarters. 

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

An agreement on the language of the draft treaty was negotiated by representatives of 195 countries at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015, but has not entered into force. 

On 22 April (Earth Day) the agreement opens for signature. Some 120 states are expected to sign it along with Sri Lanka. 

The head of the Paris Conference, France’s foreign minister Laurent Fabius, said this “ambitious and balanced” plan is a “historic turning point” in the goal of reducing global warming. 

The aim of the convention is to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change; increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production. 

Thirdly the agreement is dedicated to making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.

World leaders set landmark global goals for pricing carbon pollution

Six heads of state and government, two city and state leaders, and the heads of the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund and the OECD yesterday agreed on an ambitious global target for putting a price on carbon pollution.  

The leaders, who are all members of the Carbon Pricing Panel, convened by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, challenged the world to expand carbon pricing to cover 25% of global emissions by 2020 – double the current level – and to achieve 50% coverage within the next decade.

The call, which comes on the eve of the signing ceremony in New York of the Paris COP21 Agreement, was made by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, President of Chile Michelle Bachelet, Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia Hailemariam Dessalegn, President of France François Hollande, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel, and President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto, together with Bank Group President Kim, IMF Managing Director Lagarde, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes and OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría.

“There is a growing sense of inevitability about putting a price on carbon pollution,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “In order to deliver on the promises of the historic Paris climate agreement, a price on carbon pollution will be essential to help cut emissions and drive investments into innovation and cleaner technologies. Prices for producing renewable energy are falling fast, and putting a price on carbon has the potential to make them even cheaper than fuels that pollute our planet.”

The call to expand carbon pricing was supported by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “Carbon pricing is an invaluable tool for redirecting investments and transforming markets to build low-carbon, climate-resilient economies that will drive prosperity, strengthen security and improve the health and well-being of billions of people,” he said.

In a joint vision statement released today, the leaders declared that carbon pricing needs to be implemented faster and further on a global scale to keep to the Paris COP21 commitment of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and drive efforts to keep the rise to no more than 1.5°C. 

“Carbon pricing is the most effective policy for reducing emissions, raises significant revenues, is administratively straightforward, and can have substantial domestic health benefits. It should be front and centre as countries move forward on their mitigation pledges for the landmark Paris Agreement,” said IMF Managing Director Lagarde.

The vision statement stresses that putting a price on carbon pollution is one of the most effective policies available for reducing emissions at scale while promoting green growth and creating green jobs.

In support of the global goals in the vision statement, Canada, Chile, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Mexico, California and Rio de Janeiro today committed to take specific actions to strengthen and expand carbon pricing mechanisms.

The call by the Carbon Pricing Panel complements the work of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, which brings together 24 countries and more than 90 global companies and strategic partners to push for action on carbon pricing by collecting and sharing best practices and mobilizing business support.

At present, some 40 countries and 23 cities, states and regions around the world are using carbon pollution pricing schemes, representing about seven billion tons of carbon dioxide. The schemes, now worth about $50 billion, cover about 12% of global emissions, which is a threefold increase over the last decade.

The vision statement, which calls for that level to double by 2020 and double again within a decade, says it can be done in three ways: by increasing the number of governments putting a price on carbon, deepening existing carbon pricing programs, and promoting global cooperation.