The U.S. and India agreed Tuesday to move the Paris climate agreement into force “as soon as possible” this year, stepping up action to meet a key agenda item for President Obama’s final year in office.
Obama is meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House to discuss a range of concerns between the two countries. December’s Paris deal will be central in those talks.
The two leaders will “reinforce that they share the objective of joining the agreement as soon as possible this year,” White House climate adviser Brian Deese told reporters on a call ahead of releasing a joint communique focused on climate change actions.
Deese said 55 percent of countries that signed the deal in April must officially join the Paris deal by the end of the year for it to move forward. The process of joining the agreement means submitting documents that show a country has taken steps to ratify the agreement in its own country through taking specific actions.
Experts say India’s decision to join the Paris agreement would be enough to move the deal into force, because the country represents such a huge chunk of global emissions.
The Indians have begun domestic processes to meet the Paris agreement’s greenhouse gas reduction targets, Deese said. He said Obama and Modi are “on the same page” for the deal “to enter into force this year.”
The two leaders also will announce an agreement on phasing out the use of hydrofluorocarbons in air conditioning, which Deese said could reduce global temperatures by half a degree by the middle of the century. That is a big deal when considering the goal of the Paris deal is to ensure global average temperatures don’t rise another 2 degrees Celsius, Deese said.
Deese said that is the “most significant step the international community could take” to reaching that 2 degree goal, Deese said.
India also will announce its support for an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emission from aircraft.
