WHAT WAS CLAIMED
China and India, along with the US, are not parties to the Paris Agreement on climate change.
OUR VERDICT
False. While the US is leaving the agreement, China and India remain a part of it, along with almost every country in the world.
AAP FACTCHECK - A Queensland senator is wrong to claim that none of the world's major greenhouse gas emitters are part of the Paris climate agreement.
While the US, the world's second-largest emitter, announced in January 2025 that it was leaving the agreement, almost every other country remains a part of it.
The Paris Agreement is an international pact that aims to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The claim was made by Senator Gerard Rennick, who quit the Liberal National Party (LNP) in 2024 to form his own party.
Following reports in January that Opposition leader Peter Dutton had ruled out leaving the Paris Agreement, Mr Rennick posted on Facebook claiming the world's major emitters weren't part of it.
"The Coalition is still backing the Paris Agreement," Mr Rennick wrote. "The Paris Accord doesn't have: USA, China, India.
"The idea that Australia would persist with this while all the major emitters aren't involved is economic madness."
Three experts told AAP FactCheck the claim was false, and there was no evidence India and China had left the agreement.
The Paris Agreement was adopted by 196 parties at a UN climate change conference in the French capital in 2015. Syria and Nicaragua were the only UN member states not to sign it initially, though both did in 2017.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) lists 195 parties to the agreement at the time of writing, with Iran, Yemen and Libya the only countries to have signed but not ratified it.
On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the agreement, though it may take months for this to be formally enacted.
President Trump withdrew the US from the agreement in June 2017 during his first term but it didn't take effect until November 2020. After being elected president, Joe Biden announced the country was rejoining the agreement in January 2021.
No other country has withdrawn from the agreement at the time of writing.
Some recent media reports suggest Argentina and Indonesia have been considering withdrawing from the agreement.
AAP FactCheck was unable to find any claims India or China were considering leaving it.
Both countries recently reaffirmed their commitment to the accord.
India's climate change minister Bhupender Yadav gave a speech at the World Sustainable Development Summit 2025 calling for increased international climate collaboration, for developed countries to fulfil their obligations and for countries to strengthen their targets.
On March 5, state-run newspaper China Daily revealed the Chinese government had released a report saying the country would "diligently work toward peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060."
These targets form part of China's Paris Agreement commitments.
When contacted, Mr Rennick told AAP FactCheck he was mistaken and had meant to refer to the fact China and India have not committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
However, the Paris Agreement doesn't mandate countries to target net zero by 2050 target, and many do not. It states parties will aim for net-zero emissions "in the second half of this century" (page 4).
The agreement says countries commit to "holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels" (p3).
Countries must also commit to setting national emissions targets, and these must "represent a progression over time" (p3) and "reflect its highest possible ambition" (p4).
However, it says the targets may also reflect countries' differing capabilities and circumstances, with an expectation that developed countries do more.
In 2020, China announced a target of net-zero emissions by 2060, while India said in 2021 it intended to achieve this by 2070.
When the agreement was signed, most countries had no formal target to reach net zero by 2050.
Over time, an expectation has formed that developed countries will set a 2050 net-zero target consistent with the agreement's goals.
As of June 2024, 107 countries had net-zero pledges, according to the UNFCCC.
Wesley Morgan, a climate change diplomacy expert at the University of NSW, told AAP FactCheck Mr Rennick's claim is "misinformation".
"The United States is the only country that has moved to withdraw from the Paris Agreement," Dr Morgan said, noting that "more than 190 other countries remain committed" to the pact.
"India and China are still very much a part of the agreement," he added, noting that no other country left the agreement following Mr Trump's 2017 withdrawal announcement.
Dr Morgan said that India and China's lack of 2050 net-zero targets did not imply they had left the agreement or were acting against its principles.
Less developed countries were expected to have less ambitious targets than developed countries, though Dr Morgan noted there's debate about whether China and India should have more lenient targets.
Mark Howden, a climate change expert at the Australian National University, told AAP FactCheck there was no requirement for countries to commit to a 2050 net-zero target as part of the agreement.
Professor Howden said he was "unaware of any intent of China or India to leave the Paris Agreement".
Associate Professor Christian Downie, a climate change and international relations expert at ANU, told AAP FactCheck India and China were still parties to the agreement and he hadn't heard any reports they were considering leaving it.
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