COP25: Madrid milestone in progress from climate negotiation to climate action

This year’s annual meeting of climate negotiators is set against a backdrop of deepening crisis and popular demands for governments to do more on climate change. The European Parliament’s declaration of a climate emergency reflects this, as does, more substantively, the growing support for climate neutrality by 2050. The Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Climate Convention, also meeting as the Parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement (CMA), has an important ongoing role in setting rules and expectations for climate mitigation and adaptation. During this fortnight, the COP/CMA must finalize the missing pieces of the Paris rulebook (notably concerning market mechanisms), give guidance to a multitude of UN climate bodies and work programmes, build momentum for faster and more ambitious climate action, and prepare for the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) from Parties to the Paris Agreement.

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