The presidents of China and the United States handed over a series of documents to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during a ceremony.
The papers certify that the US and China, representing the world's two biggest carbon emitters, have taken the necessary steps to join the Paris agreement.
President Xi Jinping said that climate change concerns the well-being and future of humanity. The Paris Agreement has charted the course for post-2020 global cooperation against climate change, and it indicates that cooperative, win-win, equitable and fair climate governance is being shaped.
"China is the world's largest developing country and the United States is the world's largest developed country. The two countries have all along maintained effective communication and cooperation on climate change issues. Depositing the documents together, China and the United States have displayed their ambition and determination to jointly tackle a global challenge."
The president also added that taking advantage of the implementation of the Paris Agreement, the international community should boost efforts to improve global climate governance and innovate actions, to support the full operation of the agreement.
For his part, President Barack Obama also stressed the importance of the agreement, adding that it's not a fight that any one country can take alone.
"We are here together because we believe that for all the challenges that we face, the growing threat of climate change could define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other challenge. Nearly 200 nations came together as a strong enduring framework to set the world on a course to a low carbon future. And some day we may see this as the moment that we finally decided to save our planet."
To fulfill its commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change, China will cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60 to 65 percent by 2030 from the 2005 levels, increase non-fossil fuel sources in primary energy consumption to about 20 percent, and peak its carbon emissions by 2030.
With the G20 Hangzhou summit set to convene on Sunday, Xi Jinping says China appreciates the U.S. side's cooperation and support for its hosting of the summit.
"Holding a successful summit is the international community's shared expectation, as well as the due responsibility of China and the United States as the world's two largest economies. The summit will officially kick off tomorrow. China hopes to work with the United States and other parties to achieve fruitful results during the summit to inject momentum to the world economy while lifting confidence."
Meanwhile, during their 8th face-to-face talk, the leaders exchanged views on issues including bilateral relations, the global economy, and concerns over the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Both presidents have agreed that the two countries share extensive common interests, and should continue to reinforce communication and cooperation, manage and control their differences in a constructive manner, and push forward the continuous, sound and stable development of bilateral ties.
For CRI, I'm Niu Honglin.
