nuclear-news

By Christopher Groskopf

When the dust settles from the US election, haggard voters may be surprised to learn that other important things have been happening in the world.

On October 4th, the historic Paris Agreement on climate change came into force—years sooner than expected. The international scramble to ratify the agreement quickly reflected a widespread desire to have it done before Americans could vote in a new president.

The Paris Agreement is the single largest piece of climate change legislation ever enacted.

Over 200 countries signed the treaty at last year’s COP21 meeting.

The agreement puts caps on global emissions and establishes guidelines for international collaboration.

It was designed to automatically come into force once at least 55 countries, representing at least 55% of global emissions had ratified it.

That threshold was reached last month when the European Union signed off.

Having the climate agreement ratified early clears the way…