Spain Agrees to Host Key Climate Talks After Chile Pulls Out

Madrid has offered to hold the next United Nations climate talks, the leaders of Spain and Chile announced on Thursday. 

A sign for the United Nations climate summit at a park in Santiago,
Chile, where the talks had been scheduled to take place in December.

The announcement came a day after Chile said it could not host the event because of intensifying protests in the country. 

President Sebastián Piñera of Chile said at a news conference in Santiago on Thursday that he had heard from Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain and that Mr. Sánchez had agreed to host the summit, which is scheduled to open on Dec. 2 and run through Dec. 13. 

Mr. Sánchez’s office issued a statement saying the two countries would collaborate. Chile would continue to hold the rotating presidency of the climate talks. In a Twitter message, Mr. Sánchez said “multilateral climate action is a priority” for both the United Nations and the European Union.

Read the story from The New York Times by Somini Sengupta - “Spain Agrees to Host Key Climate Talks After Chile Pulls Out."

Australia only nation to join US at pro-coal event at COP24 climate talks

Australia has reaffirmed its commitment to coal – and its unwavering support for the United States – by appearing at a US government-run event promoting the use of fossil fuels at the United Nations climate talks in Poland.

Patrick Suckling (sitting on panel right), Australia’s
ambassador for the environment, waits as protesters
 disrupt an event at the COP24 climate change
summit in Katowice, Poland. 

Australia was the only country apart from the host represented at the event, entitled “US innovative technologies spur economic dynamism”, designed to “showcase ways to use fossil fuels as cleanly and efficiently as possible, as well as the use of emission-free nuclear energy”.

Its panel discussion was disrupted for several minutes by dozens of protesters who stood up suddenly during speeches, unfurling a banner reading “Keep it in the ground” while singing and chanting “Shame on you”.

Read the story from The Guardian by Ben Doherty - “Australia only nation to join US at pro-coal event at COP24 climate talks.”