Chile renounces to celebrate COP25, Spain will be the new host
The president of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, announced last Wednesday that Chile will not host the UN climate change summit, COP25, that was going to be held in the Chilean capital between Dec. 2 and Dec. 13.
“This has been a very difficult decision, a decision that causes us a lot of pain, because we understand perfectly the importance of APEC and COP25 for Chile and for the world,” Piñera told the media.
The president’s decision has been motivated by the wave of massive protests that the country has been experiencing for the past two weeks, which have led to violent riots in Santiago, the city that was supposed to host the climate summit.
The Chilean government believes that holding the Asia-Pacific Summit (APEC) in November, and the COP25 in December, would prevent it from focusing all its efforts on solving the country’s social crisis.
Spain could be the new host
Given the new situation, the acting president of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, has proposed to the Chilean president to organize the summit in Madrid, on the same dates originally planned. In spite of this, Chile would maintain the presidency of the summit.
Sebastián Piñera, who has thanked the offer, conveyed it this Thursday to the UN authorities, who are expected to make a decision on the future of COP25 next week.
Update: Hours after the publication of this news, UN representatives have confirmed that COP25 will be held in Madrid, from December 2 to 13.
What is COP25
The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the highest authority of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It brings together the member countries of the Convention and is responsible, among other things, for analysing the progress and fulfilment of the objectives of the Convention.
The COP has met annually since 1995, this being its 25th edition.
What issues will be addressed during COP25?
One of the objectives of the summit is to discuss and revise some points of the Paris Agreement, which will enter into force in 2020, replacing the Kyoto Protocol. The results of last September’s Climate Action Summit and of the three regional climate summits held this year in Africa, Latin America and Asia will also be analysed.
In addition to the above, a series of parallel events and exhibitions were planned which, due to the change of location of the summit, have been cancelled until alternatives for them can be provided in Madrid.