The 25th Conference of Parties (COP25) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place from 2nd to 15th December 2019. Although held in Madrid, with the logistical support of government of Spain, this COP took place under the presidency of the Government of Chile. COP25 was expected to complete the implementation guidelines (known as rule book) for the Paris Agreement, to speed- up the implementation of the Agreement by 2020 onwards. Additionally, it also aimed to raise ambition in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, particularly limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
The world average surface temperature has already risen by over a degree since the pre-industrial period, and according to the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, climate related risk will be lower if temperature increase is to be maintained at 1.5°C. Implementation of the national commitments made in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under the Paris Agreement, while not enough, will bring us close to realizing this goal. COP25 was, therefore, crucial to completing the technical guidelines of implementation for when the Paris Agreement starts its full implementation from 2020 onwards.
Because this COP did not complete the technical guideline, particularly on carbon
market and was unable to bring in sufficient commitments to raise mitigation ambition, it was considered a disappointment by the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, the participants and many media outlets. Much of these setbacks were a result of repeated obstructions from key polluting governments like the USA, Australia, China, India and Brazil who deliberately tried to subvert any climate action.