Some 150 countries including South Korea will sign a universal climate pact this week in a collective step towards the effectuation of last year's landmark deal, Seoul's ministries of foreign affairs and environment said Thursday.

The U.N. will hold a high-level signing ceremony on Friday (New York time) for the so-called Paris Agreement adopted in December to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change. The signing is part of the process for countries to formally join the new pact.

Environment Minister Yoon Seong-kyu will sign the agreement on behalf of the Seoul government.

During a speech at the signing ceremony, the minister plans to mention Seoul's efforts to push for an early domestic ratification of the agreement and tackle climate change issues, the ministries said in a press release.

Following the signing ceremony, 55 countries, which represent at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, must complete their domestic ratification procedures to enable the Paris Agreement to come into effect.

In December, nearly 200 countries adopted the historic climate agreement in a show of global unity over one of the world's toughest challenges -- climate change.

The agreement aims to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 C compared to pre-industrial times. Scientists say 2 C is the threshold to stave off the disastrous impact of climate change.

The agreement also features universality as both developed and developing countries pledged to join the fight against climate change. The previous pact only involved developed countries, which contributed the most to global warming.

To encourage the participation of many countries, the pact adopts a "bottom-up" approach, which allows each country to devise its own plan for carbon emission cuts, or "nationally determined contributions." The previous deal employed a top-down system to give countries targets and schedules for reducing carbon emissions.

Seoul has set its 2030 target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent from business-as-usual, or BAU, levels. It plans to finalize its roadmap this year to achieve the target and establish a system to evaluate the enforcement of its emission reduction pledge.

Meanwhile, Minister Yoon plans to attend a high-level discussion on Thursday over global cooperation in achieving the sustainable development goals. He is set to propose a direction to help attain the SDGs, Seoul officials said.

In September, world leaders adopted 17 SDGs to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030. The new goals were formulated after a 15-year campaign to tackle a series of global challenges under the Millennium Development Goals.

During the discussion, Yoon also plans to introduce Seoul's overseas aid project, called "Better Life for Girls." Seoul has been pushing for the project -- worth around $200 million -- to help girls in developing countries get better education, health care and job training. (Yonhap)