THE UNITED Nations Climate Summit due to be held in Santiago de Chile has been cancelled in light of mass protests across the country over social injustice and the cost of living, but Spain's acting president Pedro Sánchez has offered to host it in Madrid instead.
In a letter to the UN and Chilean president Sebastián Piñera, the PSOE (socialist) government of Spain states that multilateral action on climate change is a 'priority' in the European Union's and United Nations' agenda which requires the greatest possible commitment from everyone involved.
Environment minister in Chile and designated chair of the COP25 summit due to be held between December 6 and 13, Carolina Schmidt, has officially communicated Spain's proposal to the UN and said it needs to be analysed by the Government Table in the United Nations' Convention Framework on climate change in the next week at its meeting in Bonn, Germany.
Sánchez has expressed his 'solidarity' with the people of Chile, a country fraught with social crisis – the population says it is 'living like South Americans but with European prices' – and has thanked Piñera for his government's 'immense efforts' in organising the summit, a task that has taken over 10 months, even though it will now no longer be held in the nation's capital.
Given the 'short time left' before the summit and the importance of ensuring the COP25 goes ahead as 'normally as possible' and 'in line with Spain's external policy priorities', Sánchez has offered Madrid as an alternative venue.
Chile took over chairing and organising the COP25 after Brazil pulled out when its far-right president, climate-change denier Jair Bolsonaro gained power.
