Were the ambition objectives met at COP25?

FAQS about the Climate Ambition

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4. Were the ambition objectives met at COP25?

The review of the country’s climate ambition was one of the main objectives of COP25. The purpose was to adjust them to the levels required by the Paris Agreement and give the final touches so that the climate agreement was ready for its application in 2020, at the time of its application.

If we stick to the statements of the main representatives of the COP25, we must admit that the objectives were not on par with the expectations that were before the Conference.

Carolina Schmidt, president of COP25, said at the closing: “We are not satisfied. The agreements were not enough to urgently face the climate change crisis. There is still no consensus to increase ambition to the levels we need. The new generations expect more from us. Women, youth and children ask us for a stronger, more urgent and more ambitious response to be able to act.”

Teresa Ribera, Minister for the Ecological Transition of the Government of Spain, said: “We would have liked to hear much stronger, much more serious commitments from the big economies.”

Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, admitted that “The talks did not lead to an agreement. The disagreement between developed and developing nations was in the guidelines for a much-needed carbon market, an essential part of the toolkit to increase the ambition that can harness the potential of the private sector and generate financing for adaptation (…)”.

Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General, said: “The international community has lost an important opportunity to show greater ambition in mitigation, adaptation and finance to face the climate crisis (…) but we must not give up decided that we will never work for 2020 to be the year in which all countries commit to do what science is telling us”.