Climate Talks are Moved to Spain

Though the Chilean protests were sparked by a subway fare hike, the protests and violence have spread during the past month. According to the BBC, ”At least 20 people have died and about 1,000 have been injured in protests...” The protests and violence have prompted a relocation of the 25th United Nations climate change summit to Madrid, Spain.

The United States will be present at the Madrid meeting, though President Trump formally announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement in one year (right after the election next year). This is the amount of time that is required to withdraw. However, any signatory that withdraws from the pact can apply for readmission to the United Nations and can be back in within 30 days. With both New York and California aiming for net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the nation will continue to move in that direction and other states will join in without a federal mandate. Basically, any time in the future a President can ask to be readmitted to the Paris climate agreement.

This graph is from the Global Carbon Project a cool presentation you might want to take a look at

Under the Paris Agreement, signed in 2016, many countries pledged carbon emissions caps. It was a hopeful moment with many nations pledging to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of fossil fuel. However, neither China nor India promised any reductions. China promised to reach peak carbon emissions around 2030, and meanwhile to increase the non-fossil share of its primary energy to 20%. It is reported that China continues on that path, though, China has been financing coal fired generation in other countries. Nonetheless, earths carbon equivalent emissions continue to rise.

This graph is from Carbonbried and was posted by Jan Ivar Korsbakken, Robbie Andrew and Glen Peters from CICERO Center for International Research in Norway

The reductions promised are not enough to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius or even 2 degrees Celsius. The U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) projects that U. S. CO2 emissions will reach 5,237 million tonnes in 2018, then remain virtually unchanged in 2019 (this is expected to be about half of China’s emissions in 2019). China’s CO2 emissions grew by 2.3% in 2018, to more than 10,726 million tonnes while GDP grew by 6.6%. The EIA is projecting global CO2 emissions grew 21% from 2005 to 2017 and will continue to rise reaching 23% above 2005 levels in 2019. We have long ago passed the tipping point where climate change could be prevented. We need to plan to survive in the future climate of this planet.

from EIA