Madrid climate talks to split nations into vanguard and laggard

(Climate Change News, 29 Nov 2019) In the wings of the Cop25 talks, hosts Spain and Chile will push governments to join a coalition of progressive nations pledging to raise their targets.

The Chilean and Spanish governments hope to use UN climate talks, which begin in Madrid next week, to assemble an alliance of countries that will pledge to curtail carbon emissions and pile pressure on laggards.

Spain stepped in to host the annual talks after Chile withdrew as host last month because of social unrest over inequality.

Chile will still lead the meeting, known as Cop25, but Spain is wielding more influence over the talks. Environment minister Teresa Ribera told Climate Home News that Spain could “not expect to be silent” on the issue of raising ambition.

“Cop25 must be a launch pad for countries to raise the ambition of their contributions against climate change in 2020 and beyond,” she said.

“This is something that could have happened in Chile, but now it’s even more important,” she told CHN.

Diplomats in Madrid will have their eyes on an unfinished section of the rules of the Paris Agreement, known as Article 6, which covers global carbon markets. Breaking the current stalemate will dominate much of the formal agenda. But both the Spanish hosts and Chilean presidency will push behind the scenes for more countries to commit to faster carbon cuts.

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Climate Change News, 29 Nov 2019: Madrid climate talks to split nations into vanguard and laggard