Countries Need to Step Up Fight Against Climate Change - John Kerry

US Secretary of State John Kerry said all nations should step up their fight against climate change and reach a global agreement at the UN Climate Conference in Paris later this year.

WASHINGON (Sputnik) — Countries should help in the global fight against climate change by outlining how they can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, US Secretary of State John Kerry said upon the United States submitting on Tuesday a climate change reduction plan to the United Nations.

“Today, the United States took an important step towards its objective by formally submitting our commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,” Kerry stated on Tuesday.

“Now it’s time for other nations and come forward with their own targets to help ensure we can reach a global agreement at the UN Climate Conference in Paris later this year,” Kerry added.

Washington’s plan aims to reduce between 26 to 28 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, according to the White House.

The US plan comes ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference that will take place in Paris in December 2015, where countries will seek to reach a global, legally binding climate change agreement.

[T]he target we formalized today will only accelerate these reductions in the future, Kerry said. “We know there is no way the United States--nor any other country--could possibly address climate change alone.”

Kerry stressed that the goal of attaining global climate change could only happen if other countries do their part in reducing their greenhouse emissions.

The UN has also received similar climate change reduction plans from the European Union, Mexico, Switzerland, Norway and most recently, Russia.