Deadlock reported at UN climate talks in Madrid

MADRID: The COP 25 UN climate conference in Madrid was set to end on Friday, but rifts over how to tackle the climate change sent the two-week meeting into overtime.

Talks are expected to continue well into Saturday.

Representatives from 200 nations had met in Madrid to finalize the rulebook for the 2015 Paris climate accord, which calls for limiting global temperature rises to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius.

This month, the UN said that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C required a drop in emissions of over 7 per cent annually to 2030. Scientists have warned that the window to prevent the Earth’s climate hitting irreversible tipping points is fast closing.

World nations could not agree in Madrid over how to fund climate change measures or what rules will govern international cooperation, with deep disagreements emerging between rich polluters and developing nations.

“We have made it very far, but the question of how to develop an international C02 market is very complicated,” German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze told DW.

Others, however, rejected the notion substantial progress had been made during negotiations in Madrid.

Fridays for Future leader Greta Thunberg denounced world leaders for the lack of progress at the COP 25 talks.

“We make sure to put them against the wall and that they have to do their job and protect our future,” Thunberg said from the Italian city of Turin, where she was continuing to lead weekly school strikes.

Rich versus poor

Richer polluters such as the United States, India, China and Saudi Arabia have backed measures that simply repeat the language in the 2015 Paris accord.

But more than 80 poor and climate-vulnerable nations, backed by the EU, have insisted on going further.

“[We] will not walk away without a clear call for all countries to enhance their ambitions,” said Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege.

The Association of Small Island States coalition blasted Australia, the US, Canada, Russia, India, China, and Brazil for “a lack of ambition that also undermines ours.”

Nations are also split over the so-called “loss and damage” or compensation for countries already suffering from the climate emergency.

The United States, which plans to exit the Paris agreement, has worked to block any provisions that might hold them and other developed countries responsible for climate change-related damages, which could total more than $150 billion per year by 2025, observers and diplomats have said.

World nations could not agree in Madrid over how to fund climate change measures or what rules will govern international cooperation, with deep disagreements emerging between rich polluters and developing nations

EU makes pledge

The EU boosted the talks on Friday by pledging to make the bloc carbon-neutral by 2050, despite the refusal of Poland one of the bloc’s major emitters.

But the EU Commission stopped short of agreeing to reduce emissions by 55 percent or more by 2030.

Newly elected Finish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who also chairs the rotating European Council presidency, heralded the EU’s commitment.

“I’m very happy that we could reach this common goal that Europe will become climate neutral by 2050,” Marin told DW.

“We all know that we have to do more and we have to do it faster. It’s about our children’s future; it’s about future generations,” she added.

In regards to Poland, Marin hoped they would eventually “be on board” with the idea.

“We have all agreed that Europe will become climate neutral by 2050. It’s now about […] how different member states implement this. This discussion will continue next spring,” she said.