Matthew Green, Valerie Volcovici
MADRID (Reuters) – Major economies resisted calls for bolder climate commitments as a U.N. summit in Madrid limped toward a delayed conclusion on Saturday, dimming hopes that nations will act in time to stop rising temperatures devastating people and the natural world.
With the two-week gathering spilling into the weekend, campaigners and many delegates slammed Chile, presiding over the talks, for drafting a summit text that they said risked throwing the 2015 Paris Agreement to tackle global warming into reverse.
“At a time when scientists are queuing up to warn about terrifying consequences if emissions keep rising, and school children are taking to the streets in their millions, what we have here in Madrid is a betrayal of people across the world,” said Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, a climate and energy think-tank in Nairobi.
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The annual climate marathon had been due to conclude on Friday, but dragged on with ministers mired in multiple disputes over implementing the Paris deal, which has so far failed to stem the upward march of global carbon emissions.
Long-time participants in the talks expressed outrage at the unwillingness of major polluters to show ambition commensurate with the gravity of the climate crisis, after a year of wildfires, cyclones, droughts and floods.
The European Union, small island states and many other nations had been calling for the Madrid decision to signal that the more than 190 countries participating in the Paris process will submit bolder pledges to cut emissions next year.
The agreement enters a crucial implementation phase in 2020, when countries are supposed to ratchet up their ambitions ahead of the next major round of talks in Glasgow.
If big economies such as China, India, Japan, Brazil, Australia and others fail to agree on more meaningful climate action soon, then scientists say already slim hopes of averting catastrophic temperature rises will all but vanish.
‘STRONG MESSAGE’
Although no advanced economy is yet on track for the kind of action scientists say is needed to steer the climate onto a safer path, all the EU’s 28 member states, bar Poland, agreed in Brussels on Thursday to target net zero emissions by 2050.
Australia included as a major economy? Australia’s CO2 emissions account for 1.3% of global emissions. But stupid policies that are driving up electricity and gas prices are driving industry overseas.
But, but, you know, per capita we are one of the worst offenders – like that figure really means anything in such a sparsely populated country.
If we’d turned off fossil fueled power stations 30 years ago, and relied on renewables, despite being ruined, we’d have made not an ounce of difference to the global climate. The fires would still burn, drought would still happen, as would floods, cyclones and even tornadoes.
Australia needs to grow a pair and tell the rest of the world that due to our massive amounts of Outback we play a vital and irreplaceable role in making the world a better place… and hence THEY can give us money.
Put it this way. Nearly as many people live in metro London then voted in Australia’s last Federal election. We have a population density of THREE people per square km. Even Iceland beats that and the only thing you find in Iceland is Volcano’s and Bjork.
Australia might be smaller than Brazil, the country often claimed to be the Lungs of the World, but given out much much lower population it is clear our lungs, while slightly dusty in parts, are in a much more natural condition.
Australia is should be regarded as a role model by COP and everyone else should be paying us for the privilege of even standing in the same room as our massive organic CO2 processing ability.
im lughing at the beat up[ over poor sydneysiders breathing smoky air and the serious health risks
funny that for months the poor buggers being burnt out have borne far worse and no bastard gave a damn?
oh and the firies most of whom are locals n volunteers, day in day out for months in some areas
“dimming hopes that nations will act in time to stop rising temperatures devastating people and the natural world. ” What a bunch of crap – the obvious practical means of significantly reducing carbon levels is on the near horizon and doesn’t require any stupid govt actions : electric cars and small modular molten salt reactors. These people are just plain stupid about the future of energy.
I’d like some detail on exactly what “agreed to target” means.
As far as I can tell, none of the parties demanding action to combat climate change are offering any resources (financial or technical) to help do so.
“At a time when PSEUDO scientists are queuing up to warn about terrifying consequences if THEY DON’T GET CASH …”
Fixed.
… calling carbon dioxide “carbon”
… speaking of emissions, without specifying exactly WHICH KIND of emissions, expecting everybody to embrace the obscured alarmist meaning, “carbon dioxide emissions”, I’m guessing
… erroneously conflating carbon dioxide emissions (I presume) with pollution
Typical scaremongering journalism.
In Australia, we used to see TV ads like this;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcMNZueIyNI
It’s no wonder kids feel scared now.
Sure they resist bold action. They know that this comes with major pain for their citizens and that this also translates into losses at the ballot box. Even the unaccountable leaders of China fear popular backlashes. So, they are fine with grandiose but hollow declarations and no action. I should glad as I don’t buy the climate hocuspocus anyhow. But I am not. The world needs some stern and decisive leadership to get out of the rut it has put itself into. I did not like the Cold War very much but more and more I come to understand that it gave the world much-needed focus. We lost our Mojo and so we allow kids with iPhones to tyrannize us with Lala Land visions. So, there is anger? Not enough.
You understand not to blame the politicians, you need to win the public over which is more than most of the CAGW crowd do. You would also probably know that ignoring them, calling them names and avoiding questions is probably not going to convert them to your side.
Noise from a few percent of people may initially get you the politicians ear but poll results very quickly tell them what people are willing to actually vote on. The failure of COP25 and the almost certain failure of COP26 you would think force the CAGW crowd to stop and take stock but sometimes stupids just keeps on with stupid.
Who was it who said, “All you need to know about climate change is there is nothing we can do about it?”
I thought that they all left Madrid more than a week ago… even the MSM hasn’t mentioned them, at least CNN…
JPP
“…and school children are taking to the streets in their millions…”
The stupidity has no words here.
The obvious outcome is that the climate will just carry on doing its thing. There is absolutely no chance that any steps taken by mankind will be of sufficient magnitude to have any significant influence.
Economics and self-preservation are what controls our actions and policies. The extreme actions they advocate are simply not going to happen.
They are whistling in the wind. Let them go. Sooner or later they will hang themselves. IMO climate will not continue to warm along a steady trend. There will be a sustained drop for a period – the duration of which we cannot know. This is how nature works. Osculations. Show me any natural system that does not have them.
M
When is the next “How Dare You” conference ??
Americans were funding this monstrous fraud and now we’re not, thanks entirely to President Trump; That’s why they ‘resist bold action’! That’s what should be reported, not this Mickey Mouse bulls*it. If WUWT wants to attract alarmist readers don’t pander, tell the truth and they’ll swarm like a plague of locusts.
“what we have here in Madrid is a betrayal of people across the world” – No.
“What we have here is a failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach” – Yes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=452XjnaHr1A
They lost me when their predictions didn’t happen. Long long ago.
If you were promised wealth and power for doing nothing and previous politicians had actually handed some over..then the only source of that wealth and power surrender, the USA tells you to go pound sand..
Fear and defensive anger might be creeping into their minds.
I love her University title
What sort of a university promotes that?
In my university days it was all about inclusion and tolerance.
Have the loons really taken over the universities to that extent?
The people who enrol in these sorts of courses are in it for one thing and one thing only; Welfare! They know they can’t and will never find a job and expect the taxpayer to take up the slack! Hence, welfare is the biggest tax take out of my taxes based on my annual tax statement.
“Major economies resisted calls for bolder climate commitments as a U.N. summit in Madrid limped toward a delayed conclusion on Saturday, dimming hopes that nations will act in time to stop rising temperatures devastating people and the natural world”
Translation: major economies are on to the bizarre UN game of inventing global environmental emergencies for a self serving agenda.
https://tambonthongchai.com/2019/05/13/greta2/
When does Greta start shooting then?