On April 22, a total of 175 countries signed the Paris Agreement at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, marking the key step for the Agreement to enter into force.

We are of the view that compared with the 'top-down' approach in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement adopted a new approach.

The Agreement adopted a bottom-up approach – the countries set their own targets for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

For many countries, they still need to go through their domestic procedures before they can formally join the Agreement, but there are strong indications that the Paris Agreement might come into force long before the original deadline of 2020.

Besides, it is worth noting that the United States and China as well as other big nations have been instrumental to the conclusion of the Paris Agreement.