Paris, on Wednesday French President Francois Hollande ratified the Paris climate deal, making France the first major nation to do so. Over 170 countries have already signed the climate deal, but this deal won’t formally take effect until 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of the world’s emissions formally ratify the deal.

Hollande said, "Signing Paris climate accord is good, but ratifying is better. The challenge now is that 55 states representing 55 per cent greenhouse gas emissions in turn ratify the treaty".

European partners have been called by Hollande to ratify the agreement by the end of the year.

The green light to government to ratify the accord has been given by the French parliament last week.

The heads of state and government of the G7 the US, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada pledged to energise efforts enough so that the agreement enters into force before the end of 2016, during a summit in may.