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Political heat is on for 2020 climate deadline after lukewarm Madrid talks
(Reuters News, 16 Dec 2019) Britain faces political heavy-lifting to make a success of next year's make-or-break summit in Scotland, analysts warn
The unwillingness of some big carbon-emitting countries to clean up their act at this month's U.N. climate talks suggests Britain faces political heavy-lifting to make a success of next year's make-or-break summit in Scotland, analysts have warned.
The November conference, to be held in Glasgow with the backing of Italy, is regarded as crucial to retain a chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, the lower goal set in the 2015 Paris accord.
Acrimonious talks in Madrid, which ended two days late on Sunday, were meant to send a clear international signal that countries would deliver stronger climate action plans next year to cut their planet-warming emissions further and faster.
But many of the world's heavyweight economies - from the United States, Australia and Brazil to India, China and Japan - refused to join efforts to present an ambitious united front.
Laurence Tubiana, an architect of the Paris deal and France's former climate ambassador, said the Madrid negotiations had achieved only "the minimum outcome needed to go into 2020 - the year when climate action counts".
"Major players who needed to deliver in Madrid did not live up to expectations," said Tubiana, now CEO of the European Climate Foundation.
Reuters News, 16 Dec 2019: Political heat is on for 2020 climate deadline after lukewarm Madrid talks
