At the United Nations on Friday, representatives of 175 nations came together to sign the Paris Agreement on climate change, setting a record for the most signatories to any international agreement on the first day it was open for signature.
According to calculations from the World Resources Institute, these countries together represent 93 percent of the world's manmade greenhouse gases.
The Paris Agreement, which was negotiated in December, would for the first time commit all countries of the world to taking action to reduce their emissions of global warming pollutants.
It also contains provisions for developed nations to aid developing countries in transitioning to cleaner technologies, such as solar and wind power.
The agreement is viewed as both a milestone in international environmental diplomacy and as a starting point to rein in global emissions of planet-warming emissions.
