Australia ratifies greenhouse gas targets set in Paris

On Thursday Australia ratified its greenhouse gas emission targets agreed upon last year at the United Nations climate meeting in Paris.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told Parliament that Australia hadbecome the 140th country to ratify the agreement signed by 196nations in New York in April, following the December meeting inParis. The pact commits countries to work toward limiting global warming to 2 C and setfive-yearly targets for cutting emissions.

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The countries that have ratified the deal include the UnitedStates and represent 70 percent of the world's emissions and
three-quarters of global GDP.

"Almost a year from the Paris conference, it is clear theagreement was a watershed, a turning point and the adoption of a comprehensive strategy has galvanized the international community and spurred on global action," Turnbull told reporters.

He said Australia was on track to beat its 2020 targets.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Environment Minister JoshFrydenberg will next week join the U.N. climate change talksunderway in Morocco.

When Australia makes a commitment to a global agreement, wefollow through and that is exactly what we are doing.- AustralianPrime MinisterMalcolmTurnbull

The election of Donald Trump, who has called global warming a"hoax," is alarming environmentalists and climate scientists andraising questions about whether America, once again, would pull outof an international climate deal.

Australia became the only industrialized nation to follow theU.S. in refusing to ratify the previous climate deal, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Turnbull ruled out Australian pulling out.

"When Australia makes a commitment to a global agreement, wefollow through and that is exactly what we are doing," he said.

Ratification confirms Australia's target to reduce emissions by26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. The government said itstarget was comparable with other advanced economies and on a percapita basis was one of the most ambitious targets in the G-20 groupof countries.

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