Australia ratifies Paris Climate Agreement despite Trump concerns

We did it, fam. And not a minute too soon.

Undeterred by Donald Trump's election victory in the U.S., Australia has (finally) officially formalised its commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced Australia's pledge to curb carbon emissions Thursday, less than a day after climate change-denying Trump became president-elect -- essentially putting the agreement under threat.

"Almost a year from the Paris Conference, it is clear the agreement was a watershed, a turning point. The adoption of a comprehensive strategy has galvanised the international community and spurred on global action," Turnbull said at a press conference, according to news.com.au.

Australia will implement a target of cutting emissions 26-28 percent by 2030 as part of the agreement, easing concerns that the nation may miss the deadline to ratify.

Trump pledged to back out of the Paris climate agreement in May, after the Obama administration had previously committed to it.

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Australia's decision to implement the agreement after a great deal of delay,could be read as an optimistic show of support for the worldwide project.

While the agreement's terms mean no country can back out until late 2020 at the earliest, if the U.S. dropped out of the overall climate convention, that could mean cancelling their climate agreement membership by default.

But Turnbull told reporters that if the U.S. fails to commit, Australia won't follow. "When Australia makes a commitment to a global agreement, we follow through and that is exactly what we are doing," he said.

Greenpeace Australia said Australia’s ratification was just the first step, according to a statement.

"While ratifying the Paris climate agreement is an important step in securing a healthy future for our planet, Australia now has to make a huge climate U-turn and introduce ambitious climate policies to live up to the promise it has made," it said.

The Australian government has taken the news as an opportunity to showcase the extra work they say is being done to reduce emissions.

"The Emissions Reduction Fund has contracted 143 million tonnes of emissions reduction and by 2020 nearly a quarter of our electricity will be from renewables," an online statement said.

"Already 15 per cent of our households use solar energy, the highest proportion in the world."