Commitment to Paris Agreement is Great. Now We Need More of It

With less than two months to go until the Paris Agreement officially opens for signing, several countries have already pledged that they will indeed sign come this Earth Day, April 22. Those countries include Fiji, the Czech Republic, Argentina, Tuvalu, and Singapore. It is fantastic that the agreement already has dedicated supporters. But several countries that greatly contribute to global CO₂ emissions need to commit themselves to signing as well. Without them, the agreement may never officially go into effect.

Two of the biggest countries, and largest CO₂ emitters, in the world are China and India. Their public statement of intent to sign would be pivotal, if not a game-changer. Both celebrated the success of the climate talks that took place this past December when the Paris Agreement was adopted; however, some have fears that they will back out of the Agreement altogether. This simply cannot happen. In 2013, China lost over 1.6 million citizens and India lost over 1.4 million citizens, both to air pollution. Conditions will only worsen if the Paris Agreement is not officially ratified and carbon emissions are not severely cut. President Xi Jinping of China and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India need to publically commit themselves to signing this deal. And we believe they will if the safety of their citizens – and the world – concerns them.

Despite overwhelming support for the deal, as of right now the United States is not signing the Paris Agreement this April. Or if they are, they are keeping it a state secret. Instead the US will be signing it at a later date. Yet the example the United States would be setting by signing on April 22 would surely inspire other countries to step up and sign as well. Please sign Earth Day Network’s petition here so President Obama knows the citizens of the United States want this agreement signed on Earth Day 2016. This is one of the most important environmental movements ever and it has the possibility to change our world for the better. Don’t you want to make sure the United States is leading the charge towards a better and brighter future? We sure do.