US President Barack Obama and China's President Xi Jinping announced on Thursday that the two countries would sign the global climate accord on April 22, 2016

"Climate Change has become a pillar of the US-China bilateral relationship," a joint statement from both leaders said. Obama and Xi appealed to other countries to come on board with a view to bring the climate agreement into force. After getting approval from heads of governments, the accord can help to speed up the implementation plan in place. The plan is aimed at reducing global temperature rise to well below 2 degree Celsius.

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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a press release, commended the US' and China's commitment to combating climate change. He noted that the "two nations will take efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emission substantially with the support of international institutions." Ban noted that the forthcoming G-20 summit in Hanzhou city, China will be an opportunity for the US and China to further deliberate on the climate change issue

Up to 130 countries and over 60 heads of state and government have confirmed their intention to sign this historic climate agreement in New York on April 22. The climate change agreement can become operational this year if it is signed by at least 55 countries representing 55 percent of emissions.

This historic announcement comes months after it was adopted at the 21^st Session of Conference of the Parties (popularly known as COP21) in Paris in December 2015.

Tagschina, USA, Ban Ki Moon, Xi Jinping, Barack Obama, COP21, climate agreement