Turkey ratifies Paris Agreement on climate, the last G20 country to do so

Turkish environment and urbanization minister Murat Kurum said Wednesday that lawmakers had voted unanimously in favor of ratifying the agreement, just weeks before world leaders convene in the Scottish city of Glasgow for crucial talks on climate.

Kurum said on Twitter that he hoped the decision would help the country achieve net zero by 2053. Net zero is where the amount of greenhouse gases emitted is no greater than the amount removed from the atmosphere.

The Paris Agreement, adopted by nearly 200 nations, commits participants to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and, if possible, below 1.5 degrees. Each country is responsible for developing its own plan for achieving those goals.

Turkey was one of just a handful of signatory countries that had not yet ratified the pact. It had held out for years because the government opposed Turkey being categorized as an industrialized nation, which means the country is obliged to do more on climate that developing nations.

Reuters reported that lawmakers on Wednesday also adopted a statement saying that they were ratifying the deal as a developing country, and would only implement it if it did not “harm its right to economic and social development.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced last month at the United Nations General Assembly in New York that he would submit the agreement to parliament and called for more accountability from the world’s most developed nations, which are historically the greatest contributors to global carbon emissions.

“Whoever has done the most damage to nature, to our atmosphere, our water, our soil and the earth, and whoever has wildly exploited natural resources, should also make the greatest contribution to the fight against climate change,” he said.

“Unlike the past, this time no one can afford the luxury to say, ‘I’m powerful so I will not pay the bill.'”

Local climate activism groups and business chambers were supporting Turkey’s ratification…

Source : cnn