Climate: Bhutan has joined 174 countries to become a signatory to the Paris Agreement for Climate Change, according to a foreign affairs ministry press release.

The signing was done at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 22 during the High-Level Signing Ceremony on the Paris Agreement for Climate Change convened by the UN Secretary-General.

Bhutan Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, ambassador Kunzang C Namgyel, signed the Paris Agreement on behalf of Bhutan.

In all, 175 nations signed the Paris Agreement, making the signing ceremony the largest number of countries ever to sign a multilateral agreement on the day it opened for signature.

Following the signing ceremony, Kunzang C Namgyel delivered Bhutan’s national statement in which she highlighted Bhutan’s vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change and stated that the Paris Agreement provides the best hope to collectively meet the challenges of climate change.

She assured Bhutan’s committment to contributing to the global fight against climate change and urged all countries to support Bhutan in its national endeavours.

The signing ceremony marks the initial step toward bringing the Paris Agreement into force. The agreement can enter into force 30 days after 55 countries accounting for 55 percent of global emissions deposit their instruments of ratification.

The agreement aims to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Staff reporter