The Paris Climate Agreement Is Now Official

World leaders agreed in December to adopt plans to address planet-warming emissions, an attempt to slow the catastrophic effects of climate change. But signatories still needed to go back to their countries and ratify the deal — a necessary step that was achieved on Wednesday.

The agreement, which seeks to limit global temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), couldn’t take effect until at least 55 countries responsible for more than 55 percent of global greenhouse emissions formally adopted it. The European Union’s ratification on Tuesday bumped up participation to the necessary threshold. By Wednesday, 73 countries had ratified the agreement, accounting for nearly 57 percent of emissions.

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