Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Abdullah Al-Mouallimi

Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Abdullah Al-Mouallimi signed the Paris Climate Change Agreement at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Friday in the presence of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Al-Mouallimi said the Kingdom is concerned about the effects of climate change and that it supports ways to combat it and reduce emissions that cause significant damage to the Earth.

He said there is a need to provide valid reasons for the need to use safe and clean energy resources and reduce global warming, according to SPA.

Less than a year after it was signed, the Paris Climate Change Agreement came into force on Friday, three days before the start of the 22nd conference of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22), in Morocco.

A total of 192 countries that ratified the first global agreement to curb climate change will discuss ways to implement it.

Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinosa and Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar, who chairs COP22, which will start on Nov. 7, said in a statement that the speed with which the agreement entered into force is a clear sign of political will on the part of the countries that are committed to comprehensive and crucial action regarding climate change.

The French presidency hailed the occasion, describing it as a “historic day for the planet.”

The agreement needed the signature of 55 countries that are responsible for some 55 percent of global warming, which is happening faster than was expected by experts.

That was accomplished in October, paving the way for the entry into force of the agreement one month after that date. So far, 97 out of 192 countries have signed the agreement.

The Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, as well as the banks of the Seine River, will be lit in green on this occasion. Other government buildings in other cities, such as Brussels, Marrakech, New Delhi, Sao Paulo and Adelaide, will also be lit.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement: “As the world heads into COP22 in Marrakech, we must regain the sense of urgency we felt a year ago. With each passing day, the climate challenge grows.”

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