Syria, which was one of the two countries that was not party to the 2015 Paris agreement on combating climate change, on Tuesday said that it intends to join the accord, Reuters reported.
Syria’s deputy Environment Minister Wadah Katmawi told representatives from almost 200 nations at the climate talks in Bonn, Germany, that he wanted to affirm the war-torn country’s commitment to the treaty.
The decision, which comes after Nicaragua’s government last month said it too was joining the pact, leaves the United States as the only country that is opposed to the agreement, reported The New York Times. The US is the world’s biggest economy and the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China. The administration of President Donald Trump officially notified the United Nations that it was pulling out of the agreement on August 4.
“Syria’s decision shows the breadth of support for the Paris agreement,” Alden Meyer from the Union of Concerned Scientists was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The US still has a seat at the table in Bonn because it can formally withdraw from the agreement at the earliest only in November 2020 at the time of the next presidential election.
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