On Sunday, after two weeks of negotiations, the UN climate summit (COP25) in Madrid ended without a breakthrough result. The summit was dominated primarily by discussions on rules for trading CO2 rights, agreements on which had already been made in the Paris Climate Agreement (2015).
Setting up a global market for emission trading of CO2 rights focuses on the role of carbon trading to help countries reduce their threat to global warming. However, some countries believe their own pollution should be addressed less strictly and that prices for purchasing climate emission rights should be kept as low as possible.
In contrast, environmentally conscious countries want to reduce pollution as much as possible and limit the number of climate rights that appear on the global market. Most delegates in Madrid agreed that Brazil blocked a compromise. Such a compromise could have upheld implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Dutch Member of the European Parliament Bas Eickhout (GreenLeft) led the European Parliament delegation: “The huge gap between global climate policy and the goal of the Paris Agreement has not narrowed. This must have consequences for the trade talks the European Union is conducting with the major holdouts.”
Eickhout: “No progress has been made to align countries more closely with the goal of limiting warming to one and a half degrees from the Paris Agreement. The world is still on course for over three degrees of warming.” He called it “good that the EU did not agree to a bad deal. Brazil and Australia are the main blockers in this. This should affect the negotiations the EU holds with these countries about new trade agreements.”
“That means this issue will also be on the agenda next year. That is very unfortunate. Hopefully this topic will be resolved by June 2020, before the summit in Glasgow at the end of 2020. That summit should be entirely dedicated to raising national commitments. Therefore, that climate summit will be crucial. All eyes are now on China and the EU. In the run-up to Glasgow, they will have to set the tone. Next September, preceding the Glasgow climate summit, there will also be a large EU-China summit. By then, the EU must be ready to take decisive action,” said Eickhout.
Young activist Greta Thunberg sharply criticized the proceedings at the Madrid climate conference. On Twitter on Saturday evening, she already expressed fears that the summit would fail. “The science is absolutely clear, but the science is being ignored,” said the 16-year-old Swede. “Better no deal than a bad deal,” Eickhout said.