Kate Fowler
 

So the United States are joining the Paris agreement again, but what other countries have not signed it? Read on to find out.

The Paris agreement was introduced in 2016 as a climate change treaty. Created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, it aims to deal with greenhouse-gas-emissions, mitigation, and finance.

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Ultimately, the goal of the agreement is to keep the increase in the global average temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Joining the agreement means countries have a requirement to plan and report on its efforts to reduce global warming and emissions.

Former French President François Hollande holds a copy of the 196-nation Paris Agreement on Climate, that he handed to French astronaut Thomas Pesquet before his mission to the Internatinal Space Station (ISS), and that Pesquet handed him back after returning, during an informal ceremony on October 5, 2017 at the French Judo Federation headquarters in Paris. The inscription by Hollande reads “To Thomas Pesquet, this agreement that he is charged with making live in space”. / AFP PHOTO / JACQUES DEMARTHON (Photo credit should read JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP via Getty Images)

America have joined the agreement again

In 2017, Donald Trump officially began withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, delivering an official notice to the United Nations of their plans. Countries had to wait three years after the agreement started until they delivered the formal notification, and so in 2019 they did just that.

The US left in 2020, but on Joe Biden’s first day in office he signed an executive order to re-join the Paris Agreement.

Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images

What countries have not signed the Paris Agreement?

To date, 195 nations have signed the agreement, and two ratified without signing first. This means all United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change members have joined. This includes all United Nation members, the State of Palestine, Niue and the Cook Islands and the European Union.

However, an agreement doesn’t come into place until it’s also been ratified, essentially parliament approves it. According to the UN website, of those 197 signed, only 190 have ratified the Paris Agreement.

Those who have signed but not ratified are:

  • Turkey
  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Libya
  • Eritrea
  • Yemen
  • South Sudan

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