17 Feb 2016

Fiji first to formally approve Paris climate plan

12:21 pm on 17 February 2016

Fiji has become the first country in the world to formally approve the United Nations climate deal agreed by 195 nations in Paris in December.

It was ratified in parliament last Friday after being proposed by the attorney general, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum.

The Guardian reports him saying tackling climate change is a major priority for Fiji, which could face wide-scale flooding, fiercer tropical storms, and depleted fish stocks.

In order to formally take effect, the Paris Agreement needs at least 55 countries, representing at least 55 percent of the world's climate emissions, to ratify the treaty.

The UN Climate Change Conference breaks into cheers as the Paris Agreement in adopted on 13 December 2015 (NZT).

The UN Climate Change Conference breaks into cheers as the Paris Agreement in adopted. Photo: AFP

Observers are confident the milestone can be passed in time for a signing event in New York in April, given all the world's major economies expressed full support for the agreement at last year's summit in Paris.

Under its national climate action plan, Fiji pledged to generate 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

It also promised to cut overall emissions from its energy sector by 30 percent by 2030, as long as it received promised climate finance help from industrialised nations.