PARIS, October 4. /TASS/. The European Parliament on Tuesday approved ratification of the Paris Agreement on fighting climate change, the first-ever legally binding global climate deal.
The parliament of the 28-nation bloc gave its consent to the EU’s ratification of the agreement by 610 votes to 38, with 31 abstentions.
MEPs approve #ParisAgreement enabling it to enter into force https://t.co/yCsJ2j6OC1 #EPlenary pic.twitter.com/T56km9xw1h
— European Parliament (@Europarl_EN) 4 октября 2016 г.
The agreement will come into force after it is ratified by at least 55 signatory states, which are responsible for more than 55 percent global greenhouse-gas discharges.
India approved the climate deal on October 2, raising the number of countries that have joined the agreement to 62.
The UN Agreement on climate was reached on December 12, 2015 at the conference in Paris.
On April 23, 2016, at the UN General Assembly in New York, 175 countries signed the document, including Russia, Germany, India, China and the United States. The document provides for the obligations of the parties to prevent the increase of the average temperature on the planet by 2100 by more than two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
Russian presidential adviser on climate affairs, Alexander Bedritsky, said earlier that Russia was still to accomplish a number of steps the national legislation required before the Paris Agreement could be ratified. In particular, it should estimate the social and economic effects of ratification.