MADRID: The longest climate discussions have concluded without any conclusion. The primary goal of the conference was to ensure the full operationalisation of the Paris Climate Change Accord before the deadline of 2020, curbing global warming, greenhouse gas emissions and elevating the pressure faced by third world countries dealing with the effects of climate change, yet the two-week long United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 2019 ended with fruitless negotiations in Madrid.
Delegations of several countries rejected the draft agreements prepared on the final day of the conference, leaving the no other alternative than to remove all phrases and provisions from the agreement, leaving behind only the generalities and no specific decisions. Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General, expressed his dissatisfaction from the outcome from the supposed landmark conference, saying that the international community has lost an important opportunity to show “Increased ambition on mitigation, adaptation and finance to tackle the climate crisis”. One of the biggest let downs was the lack of a decisive action on the carbon markets. The initial plan was that carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, would be curbed by putting a price on its emissions. This allowed countries or companies to trade emission permits. These prices were to gradually reduced as the world moves to a low emission future.
The UN meeting also agreed upon the “Chile-Madrid Time for Action” declaration. The declaration calls for an improvement to the current pledges to reduce emissions, in line with the Paris Agreement’s target to control global warming. Countries also agreed to allot funds to the vulnerable countries, majorly small island states, to compensate them for the effects of extreme weather events.
The lackluster outcome of the biggest conference on climate change has enraged climate activists, both inside and outside the venue. The activists further demonstrated their frustration at the snail like pace at which the governments of the world are operating to curb climate change.