Philippines ratifies Paris pact on climate change hinh anh 1Philippines Senate ratifies Paris climate agreement (Photo: suryaa.com)
 
 
Hanoi (VNA) – The Philippine Senate on March 14 approved the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, making the country an official signatory to the historic pact.

With a vote of 22-0, the Senate unanimously ratified the agreement, the world’s first comprehensive pact on climate change, under which the signatory countries committed to move away from fossil fuels. 

The ratification of the Paris Agreement will send a strong signal of the Philippines’s commitment to work with the rest of the world in ensuring the survival of the current and future generations and ability of the Earth to sustain life, said Senator Loren Legarda, who sponsored the Senate resolution on the pact.

Before being submitted to the Senate, the pact was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on February 28. Earlier, President Duterte was reluctant to sign the pact, saying that the agreement is tilted in favor of the industrialised nations.

The Paris Agreement on Climate Change officially took effect on November 4, 2016, aiming to slash greenhouse gas emission and keep global temperature rises to “well below” 2-degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. 

It also asks industrialised countries to set aside at least 100 billion USD annually as financial assistance to developing countries, to enable all nations to be able to leverage renewable energy by 2020. The Philippines has promised to cut carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2030. – VNA
VNA