NEW YORK, 20 February, 2021 (TON): The re-entry of the U.S. into the Paris Agreement on climate change has been hailed by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also called for the global action to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

"Today is a day of hope, as the US officially rejoins the Paris Agreement. This is good news for the US, and for the world," Guterres told a virtual event on Friday to mark the US re-entry.

"For the past four years, the absence of a key player created a gap in the Paris Agreement, a missing link that weakened the whole. So today, as we mark the United States re-entry into this treaty, we also recognize its restoration, in its entirety, as its creators intended," he said. "Welcome back."

The US, together with all members of the Group of 20 largest economies in the world, has a decisive role in delivering three main objectives: the long-term vision, the decade of transformation, and urgent climate action now, he said.

The Paris Agreement is a historic achievement. But the commitments made so far are not enough. And even those commitments made in Paris are not being met, said Guterres.

On 22 April, 2016, the U.S. signed the agreement and concerned to remain bound to it on 3 September, 2016. However, the U.S. ceased to participate in the agreement as the former President Trump announced it on 4 November, 2020.    

After the agreement was ceased, the new U.S. President Biden on his first day in the White House signed a new instrument of acceptance, which was deposited with the UN secretary-general on the same day, enabling the US re-entry on 19 February, 2021, in accordance with provisions of the Paris Agreement.