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The joint announcement by US president Barack Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping in Hangzhou, China, this Saturday takes the world one step closer to implementing the targets agreed at the so-called COP21 conference in Paris last December.
The agreement needs to be ratified by 55 countries representing 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions before it enters into force. The announcement by China and the US bring ratifications to date to 26 countries and 39% of emissions.
The Paris agreement states that from 2020, the world's nations will aim at "holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels". It adds that “much greater emission reduction efforts will be required” than achieved so far.
The text also acknowledges “the fundamental priority of safeguarding food security and ending hunger" when cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
European targets
The European Union and its member states including Ireland have yet to ratify the Paris agreement, but the European Commission has already translated it into proposed targets for each country between 2020 and 2030.
Under the proposal, Ireland would have to cut emissions from sectors of its economy outside the Emissions Trading System, including agriculture, by 30% compared with 2005 levels, in line with the EU average. The Irish target is associated with some of the highest flexibility allowed to EU member states in terms of offsetting emissions with carbon sequestration through activities such as forestry or improved grassland management.
Full coverage: agriculture and climate change
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