Climate Talks Flop

COP25 was meant to tackle the climate crisis. It fell short

Tara John, Arwa Damon, Ingrid Formanek and Sheena McKenzie, December 15, 2019 (CNN)

“The message from climate activists was passionate, the warning from the scientific community and countries already experiencing the effects of climate change, urgent. The action from world powers has been excruciatingly slow and inadequate…What had been scheduled as a 12-day summit [of nearly 200 countries] aimed at hammering out the rules of the 2015 Paris Climate accord, instead dragged on two extra days and highlighted the huge disconnect between the world's biggest polluting nations, and the global community demanding change...[Many observers, scientists and climate activists called the summit’s] agreement a monumental failure, strewn with watered-down language that kicks urgent items down the road to COP26 in 2020…

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Negotiators struggled to find common ground at the summit, especially over rules for a new global carbon trading market…The US, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, India and other big polluters are accused of obstructionist behavior while Australia and Brazil stand accused of seeking loopholes to recycle old carbon credits in order to meet their commitments…There were some signs of hope…[F]inance ministers from more than 50 countries unveiled an action plan that would see them incorporate climate solutions into their policies…” click here for more

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