UN cheif commended the joint announcement by the Governments China and the United States of their post-2020 action on climate change, as an important contribution to the new climate agreement to be reached in Paris next year.
Ban Ki-moon congratulated President Xi Jinping of China and President Barack Obama of US on this significant and timely announcement, his press office said in a statement released late on Tuesday, and thanked the two officials for their personal commitment to work together to remove any impediments to reaching an agreement in Paris.
The statement noted that today, China and the US have demonstrated the leadership that the world expects of them.
"This leadership demonstrated by the Governments of the world's two largest economies will give the international community an unprecedented chance to succeed at reaching a meaningful, universal agreement in 2015," Ban said.
The UN official also welcomed the commitment expressed by both leaders to increase their level of ambition over time as well as the framing of their actions in recognition of the goal of keeping global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius.
The joint announcement signaled that the transition towards a low-carbon, climate resilient future is accelerating, he added.
With the positive commitments made by Government, business, finance, and civil society leaders at the Climate Summit at UN Headquarters in September, followed by the ambitious decision taken by European Union leaders on their post-2020 emission reduction target in October, and now this highly significant joint announcement by China and the US, Ban believed that a strong foundation has been laid and momentum is building towards a meaningful climate agreement in 2015, the statement noted.
He urged all countries, especially all major economies, to follow China and the US lead and announce ambitious post-2020 targets as soon as possible, but no later than the first quarter of 2015.