UN Secretary-General Praises China, US for Paris Climate Deal Ratification

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday praised the ratification of Paris Agreement on climate change by China and the United States and urged all parties to the ongoing G20 summit to keep on the momentum of fighting the climate change.

HANGZHOU (China), (Sputnik) — On Saturday, China and the United States ratified the Paris climate change agreement.

"At this summit, there has been a major step forward on the climate change… With China and the US making this historic step we now have 26 parties to the UNFCCC [UN Framework Convention on Climate Change] convention, and 49 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions accounted for," Ban told reporters prior to the opening of G20 summit in Hangzhou.

The G20 summit is "encouraging speedy entering into force of this important agreement," he said, stressing the need to "keep this momentum."