The Madrid summit fails to strengthen climate commitments.
Perhaps it’s hard to expect anything more than what the UN Climate Summit gave us last Sunday in Madrid, already two days late.
In words of the Chilean Minister of Environment, Carolina Schmidt, “It’s sad that we could not reach a final agreement – we were so close.” Schmidt held the presidency of this summit which, according to her calculations, has been “the longest in history.”
The weak result of COP25 widens the gap between governments and science on the climate crisis.
Although presented as an ambitious summit, the UN conference on climate change failed to complete its great objective: to strengthen emission reduction plans. COP25 is already history, and its results are still disappointing. Delegates from almost 200 participating countries have avoided signing firm commitments to reduce greenhouse gases; however, the submit failed to effectively address one of the fringes of the Paris Agreement, Article 6, which refers to the rights exchange market of emissions.
Negotiations have highlighted the gap between the European Union, in favor of a transparent market, and powers such as China, the United States and Brazil, contrary to taking tougher controls.
The difficulties in reaching a consensus have prevented even a timid progress in establishing the rules of operation of future carbon markets. It was important not only because Article 6 of the Paris Agreement refers to carbon markets, but also because it was postponed during the last submit in Katowice, Poland. The process must have verification systems and clear rules to avoid double accounting, i.e. the reductions of polluting gases are recorded simultaneously by the country that buys and the one that sells.
COP25 failed to bring any consensus for the exchange of emission rights allowing countries and companies to compensate for the greenhouse gases they expel. Greta condemned these mechanisms by calling them countries’ clever approaches to find loopholes and avoid action. “It has to stop,” Greta emphasized.
COP25 has tirelessly pursued that governments assume the need to carry out an upward revision of their contributions to avoid global warming. If we want the planet’s temperature rise to remain below 1.5 degrees this century, we must take urgent additional actions planned in Paris. Looking the other way would only contribute to aggravate the climate crisis that humanity inevitably faces. States have an obligation to ensure the health of the planet. At this point in the century, few can doubt that the cost of doing nothing will be much higher than what it means to act. It is the concrete measures, and not the talk, that will allow the political will to be calibrated in the fight against climate change.
If anything, the Madrid summit served to highlight the gap between countries prepared to multiply their efforts and countries not willing to make extra commitments. In the first block, the European Union and its plan to reach zero emissions by 2050 are very prominent – it is supported by an investment of 100,000 million euros. Achieving the decarbonization of the economy, not only in the territory of the Union, but in the rest of the world, requires a very complicated industrial and technological reconversion. It also requires a just and balanced generation transition.
“I am disappointed with the results,” said António Guterres, UN Secretary-General. “The international community lost an important opportunity to show greater ambition,” he added. “But we must not give up.”
The COP25 has passed scientists to present their climate reports that point, and how CO2 emissions will mark new extremes this year.
It took place in Madrid after Chile’s denial to host the even over a month ago due to social protests. In this complicated summit, two points were fundamental: one more technical, and the other political.
Only 84 states decided to strengthen their commitments in 2020. The forerunners of this commitment include the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany. However, countries that stepped back, i.e. China, the USA, Russia and India (responsible for 55% global emissions) are the real problem. Ironically, these countries have not given signs of ambitious plans.
One of the toughest discussions during this conference has been how to call on countries to present more urgent plans.
Finally, in the COP25 statements approved by the plenary, countries are “encouraged” to “seize the opportunity in 2020” to show the highest ambition for “the urgency of addressing climate change.” Also, it highlighted the “serious concern” for the “urgent need” to solve the “gap” that exists between the countries’ plans and Paris Objective.
Developing mechanisms have been pending since the Climate Summit held in Katowice (Poland), where the submit decided to resolve it in COP25. However, due to great differences between the countries in this negotiation, no pact was finalized, again.
The COP25 finally admitted this Sunday that the event did not receive “sufficient consensus”. Virtually all countries that took the floor in the final plenary have recognized the “disappointment” for being unable to close any negotiation.
Apart from the low political balance of the summit, the most interesting of these days has been to see how the pressure exerted by the scientific community, ecologists and civil society movements. With the younger generations as a battering ram, it acquires more intensity and visibility every day. Hopefully, the necessary agreements will end up emerging from that pressure and from that conviction.
The writer is an environmental researcher, a writer and sustainable development activist. He has published his work internationally in Springer Nature and worked with numerous international organizations working on sustainable development goals. Currently working as an editor at a leading organization, he is dedicating words to the cause. He can be contacted at [email protected].