Hollande ratifies Paris Agreement on climate change

French President François Hollande has ratified the Paris Agreement on climate action that was reached at the COP21 United Nations climate summit in December.

The deal is designed to curb global greenhouse gas emissions and prevent dangerous levels of global warming and was finalised by 195 UN member states during two weeks of negotiations.

President Hollande signed the deal on Wednesday with France becoming the second European country, after Hungary, to ratify the agreement and the first from the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies.

The ratification was formally authorized by the French parliament last week.

The deal aims to keep the increase in average global temperatures to below 2°C compared with preindustrial times and will come into force when 55 countries representing at least 55 per cent of global emissions officially ratified it.

China, the world's biggest emitter on GHG emissions, will ratify the agreement before the G-20 summit in Beijing in September, according to reports.

The United States, the second biggest emitter, announced its plan to ratify the deal later this year.