More than 170 governments have signed the Paris Agreement climate change accord, which will be the world's new framework to deal with climate change across the planet.

World leaders from a record 175 nations gathered on International Mother Earth Day and signed the Paris Agreement climate change accord, a landmark accord that sets out global efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, one of the causes of global warming.

"Korea will prepare for ratification in its National Assembly so that the agreement can be swiftly put into effect and so that we can continue to work on measures to tackle climate change," said Minister of Environment Yoon Seong-kyu as he signed the agreement.



The Korean government will now finalize a 2030 Roadmap for Reducing Greenhouse Gases, part of the agreed-upon measures. This will help it to achieve its goals set through the Nationally Determined Contribution measures that the government submitted last June. The government will also develop an evaluation system to oversee progress toward this goal. The government will promote its policies to reduce greenhouse gases, while at the same time create more jobs and boost the economy. These include more uses of environmentally friendly cars and an expansion of its "zero-carbon islands" policy.

By Chang Iou-chung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Ministry of Environment
icchang@korea.kr