This archive report was first published on 16 December 2019.
Published on December 16, 2019, the COP25 climate meeting in Madrid, Spain, aimed to finalize the rulebook for the 2015 Paris accord, which seeks to limit global temperature increase to below two degrees Celsius.
However, the meeting ended with a lack of progress on key issues, including carbon markets, and was widely criticized by world leaders, including Brazil's Environment Minister Ricardo Salles.
Salles, who participated in COP25, expressed disappointment over the lack of progress on carbon markets, which would have allowed countries like Brazil and Australia to count carbon credits accumulated under a previous climate deal as part of their commitments under the Paris climate agreement.
"Unfortunately, despite all the efforts of Brazil, a protectionist vision took hold, and Brazil and other countries that could provide carbon credits because of their forests and good environmental practices came out losers," Salles said.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro also criticized the meeting, calling it a 'commercial game' and blaming wealthy countries for not taking sufficient action to address climate change.
"I don't know why people don't understand that it's just a commercial game," Bolsonaro told reporters outside his official residence.
He also questioned the commitment of wealthy countries to address climate change, saying, "I'd like to know: has there been a resolution for Europe to be reforested, or are they just going to keep bothering Brazil?"
