More countries join Paris climate pact, putting threshold near

wait for more nations to join.

“Today we also heard commitments from many other countries to join the agreement this year. Their combined emissions will take us well past the required amount for the agreement to enter into force,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at an event on the sidelines of the high-level U.N. General Assembly gathering. “I am convinced that the Paris Agreement will enter into force before the end of 2016.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he is confident of reaching the magic number before the next U.N. climate conference, which starts Nov. 7 in Marrakech, Morocco. He urged people everywhere “to become warriors for the planet.”

The world’s two biggest emitters, the United States and China, have already ratified the deal, providing momentum for other countries to quickly ratify the accord.

Brazil, Mexico and Argentina were the largest emitters to join the treaty Wednesday, but many of the countries that joined were small island nations, whose very existence is threatened by rising sea levels provoked by global warming, but whose individual emissions account for a mere fraction of a percent of total global emissions.

The treaty’s ratification has taken place at what is considered a blistering pace for international diplomacy, reflecting a sense of urgency in the fight against global warming and a desire to seal the deal before Ban and U.S. President Barack Obama leave office.

The European Union, which accounts for 12 percent of global emissions, is lagging behind other countries in joining the deal but is trying to speed things up.

“We are trying to accelerate the ratification process,” EU Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete told The Associated Press.