India formally ratifies Paris Climate Change agreement

India on Sunday formally submitted its instrument of ratification to the United Nations for the Paris Climate Change Agreement on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

"At 19:50 hrs IST today on Gandhi Jayanti, India deposited its Instrument of Ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at the @UN," tweeted Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Government of India Anil Madhav Dave.

So far 61 nations have ratified the landmark agreement on climate change accounting for a total of 47.79 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions. India's ratification on Sunday would take that figure to 51.89 per cent.

The objective of the Paris Agreement is to reduce the emissions from 50 to 40 gigatons, or to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels. Some developing countries have pledged to reduce carbon footprints in the form of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs

Adopted in Paris by the 195 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at a conference known as COP21, the agreement calls on countries to combat climate change and to intensify actions and investments needed for a sustainable low-carbon future, as well as to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change.

Specifically, it seeks to limit the rise in global temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and to strive for 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The pact - which was signed in New York on April 22 by 175 countries at the largest, single-day signing ceremony in history - will enter into force 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, deposit their instruments of ratification.