6. What issues from COP25 were left pending for COP26?

The chapter of ambition

The President of COP25, Minister Carolina Schmidt, has reported that 73 Parties to the UNFCCC, 14 regions, 398 cities, 786 companies and 16 investors are working to reduce their net CO2 emissions to zero by 2050. “That clearly shows that both state and non-state actors recognize the urgent need to take ambitious measures to face the emergency of climate change”, said Schmidt. / Dec 14, 2019”.

This, without a doubt, is very positive. The problem is that the ambition of these countries and entities is not accompanied by the ambition of the main emitting countries (Russia, China, the United States, India and Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Persian Gulf), which refuse to reduce their production of fossil fuels and are determined to continue emitting greenhouse gases.

Due to this, an agreement on the issue of ambition could not be finalized at COP25, being deferred to COP26.

Related reading: The Paris Agreement and its origin flaw. SGK-Planet article dealing with the difficulty of “ambition”, the backbone of the Paris Agreement. We include an interesting analysis by Dr. César Nava Escudero on the concept of “soft law”, which sheds light on “non-binding” mandates and their consequences.

Carbon markets

One of the most controversial topics at COP25 was carbon markets. These were created long ago in order to limit and control the amount of CO2 and other GHGs that are emitted annually into the atmosphere. It is a kind of clearinghouse for the sale and purchase of emission quotas, which allows those who have been below their quota to sell to someone who has exceeded it. The goal was to create a regulatory framework for a global carbon trading system, a complex issue included in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. It was finally deferred for later.

Land use and oceans

The text recognizes the importance of the oceans and soils in the climate system, in response to the IPCC special reports published during 2019. The unprecedented two-day delay of COP25 was due to the resistance of Brazil in accepting the document related to the theme “Land use and oceans”. Finally, minimum agreements were reached, but they will be discussed again at COP26.