This archive report was first published on 15 December 2019.
Madrid, Spain - December 15, 2019 - The 25th annual United Nations climate negotiations, formally known as the Conference of Parties, ended early Sunday in Madrid with big polluting countries blocking an agreement to enhance climate targets.
The talks, which had been scheduled to end on Friday, went on for an extra two days, making this year's session the longest ever. The United States, which is planning to abandon the Paris climate agreement next year, resisted an agreement on how to compensate poor countries for the economic losses they suffer from climate catastrophes.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his disappointment with the results of the talks, stating, “I am disappointed with the results of #COP25. The international community lost an important opportunity to show increased ambition on mitigation, adaptation & finance to tackle the climate crisis.”
The climate talks were designed to iron out the last unresolved details of the landmark Paris climate agreement, which was agreed to in 2015. However, there was no agreement on even committing to ramp up climate-action targets next year, despite a push from both rich and poor countries.
