Spain to host UN summit on climate change

BERLIN (AP) — The United Nations global climate meeting next month will take place in Madrid after previous host Chile canceled at short notice, officials said Friday.

UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa said representatives of the body that organizes the annual conference had accepted Spain’s offer to host it in the country’s capital on Dec. 2-13.

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera had announced Wednesday that he was cancelling plans to host the meeting, as well as a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, to focus on restoring security in his country following weeks of protests in which at least a dozen people have died.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s office offered to step in at short notice Thursday, sending delegates from around the world scrambling to change their travel plans.

Sánchez, who is facing a national election on Nov. 10, celebrated Friday’s decision.

“Excellent news: Madrid will host the global climate meeting from Dec. 2-13. Spain is already at work to guarantee its staging of COP25. Our government firmly keeps its commitment to lasting progress and a just ecological transition,” Sánchez wrote on Twitter.

Among those who were planning to attend the conference in Chile was Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, whose climate protests have helped inspire tens of thousands of mostly young people to take to the streets demanding greater efforts from world leaders.