Less than two months after 196 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Paris Agreement, the global community is already seeing signs of it being a decisive turning point, according to a senior UN official dealing with climate issues.

A month and a half since 196 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Paris Agreement, the global community is already seeing signs of it being a decisive turning point, according to a senior UN official dealing with climate issues.

“Much has been happening since Paris – the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed that 2015 was the hottest year on record, not just by a little but by a lot,” Janos Pasztor, who was today appointed as Senior Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Change, told reporters at a briefing in New York.

For the past year, Mr. Pasztor had been leading the UN's climate change efforts as Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change, working towards last December's 21st United Nations climate change conference (COP21).

Recalling that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has invited world leaders to a signing ceremony on 22 April – which coincides with International Mother Earth Day – the climate advisor noted that it will be the first day the Agreement is open for formal signatures.

He said Mr. Ban is urging countries to quickly ratify the agreement so it can enter into force as soon as possible, adding that the event will also be an opportunity to discuss efforts to implement national climate plans, known as INDCs, and to generally “maintain the momentum of the action agenda.”

Meanwhile, he underlined the Secretary-General's recent call for a doubling of investments in clean energy by 2020, which he said was greeted “very positively” by many investors.

“The pdf Paris Agreement (505 KB) sent a clear message to markets and investors that it's time to get serious about climate change. We're now seeing evidence that the signal has been received loud and clear,” Mr. Pasztor stressed.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued by the UN Spokesperson's Office, Mr. Ban expressed his deep gratitude for Mr. Pasztor's “dedicated service and leadership” over the past quarter of a century with the world body on the key global challenges of climate change, energy and sustainability.

“In his new role as Senior Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Change, Mr. Pasztor will support efforts of the Secretary-General to mobilize world leaders and all sectors of society to implement the landmark Paris Agreement,” the statement indicated.

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Bringing the Paris Agreement into Force

Next Steps and National Climate Plans

On 12 December 2015, countries under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Paris Agreement.

The legal nature of this new, international agreement requires the following actions and steps to bring it into force. How the large number of national climate plans will be handled in relation to the agreement is also explained below.

In addition, the UNFCCC secretariat has prepared a legal version of these steps for readers who require the important, detailed formal wording and terminology that relates to this major international agreement.

The text of the Paris Agreement is found annexed to the decision that officially adopted the agreement at the UN Climate Change conference in Paris (COP 21) and is available in all six official UN languages.

Entry into Force

The Agreement shall enter into force on the 30th day after the date on which at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55 % of total global greenhouse gas emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Depositary. The Secretary-General of the United Nations will act as the Depositary of the Agreement.

To this end, the UNFCCC secretariat has made available information on the most up-to-date total and per cent of greenhouse gas emissions communicated by Parties to the Convention on the website on the date of adoption of the Agreement.

Next Steps

The authentic text of the Paris Agreement in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, will be transmitted by the UNFCCC Executive Secretary to the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations in New York as soon as it becomes available.

Following this, certified true copies will be distributed to all Parties to the Convention and the Paris Agreement will open for signature at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 22 April, 2016 to 21 April, 2017.

The UN Secretary-General is convening a high-level signature ceremony for the Paris Agreement on 22 April, 2016 and is inviting all Parties to the Convention to sign the agreement at this ceremony, or at their earliest opportunity.

National Climate Plans

Meanwhile, the agreement also includes a change in status of the intended national climate action plans which almost all countries submitted to the UN ahead of Paris. These intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs), which detail what each country intends to contribute towards reducing global emissions, are set to become nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

Parties to the agreement should communicate their first NDC no later than when the respective instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession has been submitted.

If a country has already submitted its INDC before joining the agreement, then that INDC will be considered the country’s first NDC, unless it indicates otherwise.

Moreover, a country has the opportunity of submitting a more ambitious NDC, before it submits or when submitting its respective instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.