France Welcomes India's Move to Ratify Climate Change Agreement

New Delhi: France has welcomed the Indian government’s decision to ratify the Paris climate change agreement, aimed at containing global warming, on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

French Minister of Environment and Energy Segolene Royal complimented Prime Minister Narendra Modi for deciding to ratify the ambitious pact that charts a course to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

“Congratulations to @narendramodi, PM of India for ratification #ParisAgreement on 2 oct (sic),” Royal tweeted.

French ambassador Alexandre Ziegler also hailed India's decision to ratify the pact. "Welcome decision by Hon'ble PM @narendramodi that India will ratify #ParisAgreement on Oct 2, birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi @PMOIndia," he tweeted.

The historic Paris agreement, reached in December, will come into force after it is ratified by at least 55 countries, accounting for 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The US has already welcomed India's decision.

Modi had on Monday announced that India will ratify the Paris agreement on October 2. During the Paris climate meet last year, more than 190 nations had agreed on setting ambitious goals for capping global warming and funnelling trillions of dollars to poor countries facing catastrophe. It had set a target of limiting global temperature increase by 2°Celsius.

While western countries, including the US, had been supporting an early ratification of the pact, India had been seeking more time to complete its national processes, fearing that any hasty decision may impact its developmental projects.

The issue of India ratifying the Paris deal had come up for discussion between Modi and US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Vientiane, Laos earlier this month.

Climate change is one of the centrepieces of Obama's legacy and the US President has been quite vocal about the effects that climate change may unleash.

He has often said climate change is the greatest long-term threat facing the world, manifesting itself as droughts, storms and flooding.