“The new North American Climate, Clean Energy and Environment Partnership is a major breakthrough and raises hopes that we can still limit temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius as envisaged in the Paris Agreement on climate,” said Robert Glasser, UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction and the head of UNISDR, in a news release.

Through the partnership, the three countries aim to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by 2020, reduce black carbon and prohibit the use of high-global warming hydrofluorocarbons.

These “speak to a serious political commitment to reducing the risk from future extreme weather events,” he said. “This is leadership in action.”

UNISDR is the UN focal point for the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the global plan for reducing mortality and disaster losses, adopted in 2015.

Both Canada and