Climate action advocates who had spent two weeks demanding action from the COP 25 climate summit emerged from the conference Sunday stunned and angry over its conclusion, which was deemed a “lost opportunity” by the United Nations secretary-general.
Because of the refusal of some of the world’s wealthiest countries to commit to more ambitious targets to reduce their climate-warming carbon emissions, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “The international community lost an important opportunity to show increased ambition on mitigation, adaptation, and finance to tackle the climate crisis.”
As Common Dreams reported Saturday, the summit was intended to wrap up Friday but negotiations lasted two extra days as delegations debated provisions for carbon markets.