UN CLIMATE SUMMIT IN MADRID
Minister-level talks begin as major emitters pledge nothing new; US, Saudi top offenders’ list


Afp, Madrid
UN climate negotiations in Madrid remained bogged down in the fine print of the Paris treaty rulebook, out-of-sync with a world demanding action to forestall the ravages of global warming.

The 196-nation talks should kick into high-gear Tuesday with the arrival of ministers, but on the most crucial issue of all -- slashing the greenhouse gas emissions overheating the planet -- major emitters have made it clear they have nothing to say. Only the European Union is dangling the prospect of enhanced carbon cutting ambitions, to be laid out this week in its European Green New Deal.

Observers say the case for a global Marshall Plan on global warming has become overwhelming.

A quartet of recent UN science reports catalogued a crescendo of deadly heatwave, flooding and superstorms made more destructive by rising seas, and projected far worse impacts just over the horizon.

But governments are waiting until next year’s deadline to unveil revised emissions reduction commitments.

“Negotiations, by their nature, are ‘I’ll give you this, if you give me that’,” said Andrew Steer, President and CEO of the World Resources Institute, a Washington-based climate policy think tank.

“So we are standing and watching our house on fire. I’ve got a hose, you’ve got a hose, but I’m not going to turn mine on until you do.”

Negotiators are addressing a trio of politically-charged technical issues before the Paris Agreement becomes operational at the end of next year.

One is reworking rules for largely disfunctional carbon markets.

Another is so-called “loss and damage”. Under the bedrock UN climate treaty, rich nations agreed to shoulder more responsibility for curbing global warming, and to help developing countries prepare for unavoidable future impacts -- the twin pillars of “mitigation” and “adaptation”. But there was no provision for helping countries already reeling in a climate-addled world.

Meanwhile, The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) yesterday singled out The United States and Saudi Arabia as the major polluters who have shown “hardly any signs” of reducing their greenhouse gas production.

CCPI measures the emissions, renewable energy share and climate policies of 57 countries and the EU.

It found the US ranks last, followed by Saudi Arabia and Australia. China, the world’s largest single emitter, was found to have taken “medium action” due to its high investment in renewables. However the index warned that Beijing could slump to the bottom rungs if it follows through on its plan to continue building coal-fired power plants.