Madrid climate talks close with 'no deal' amid mixed bag for Africa

The UN-led climate conference ended in the Spanish capital of Madrid, marred by civil society protests and failure by negotiators to hammer an "acceptable" deal.

As closed-door discussions continued, there was a feeling among developing countries and civil society groups that the talks would have a lackluster outcome because rich countries, most responsible for global warming, had pedaled back on their financial pledges.

Some of the 30,000 delegates, however, remained optimistic that parties would assemble their thoughts on the state of Paris climate accord and sketch an outline for 2020 going forward. But towards the end, it became clear a deal wasn't forthcoming, with most negotiators opting to have discussions suspended until the next conference of parties.

African countries, including Kenya, raised the stakes with demands for financial and technological support from rich countries to implement the 2016 Paris agreement, which seeks to lower global temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius.

African negotiators group led by their chairman Ambassador Mohamed Nasr declared the continent would not be cajoled into agreements that are not in sync with their demands and expectations for financial and technological support to fight climate change.

"We are ready to continue these discussions next year," they declared at a morning press briefing.

The most contentious issues remained to fund mitigation and adaptation, loss and damage, the gender action plan and carbon trading.

The delegates, for a better time of the conference time, looked at where the COP25 resolutions, if any, would leave financial to support to survivors of climate disasters such as the floods currently affecting locals in across Africa.

When plenary convened on Friday evening, only handful issues had been finalized, with the conference President Carolina Schmidt asking negotiators to agree on the remaining issues by the evening. By the time of going to press yesterday, finance-related issues were yet to be resolved.

"I am disappointed with the results of COP25," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.

Since Thursday, the venue was under tight security following a scuffle in which a group of civil society organisations tried to disrupt proceedings at the meeting arena. Yesterday, 'Fridays for Future youth' lobby planned fresh sit-in inside the COP25 venue to protests against governments for their inaction on climate change effects.

For the Kenya team, however, it was not all gloom. Peter Odhengo, Climate Finance Adviser and Head of Green Economy Unit at the National Treasury who is also a Kenyan negotiator, said pending issues regarding financing for loss and damage would be referred to the UN to give direction ahead of the next conference in Glasgow in 2020.    

"Kenya has been at the forefront of accessing these resources. So far Kenya has seven projects that have been approved by the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, and Rwanda are in the top league. In the $10.3 billion pledge from GCF, We have about $1.3 billion," he said.

Yesterday there was a mini-launch on an environmentally-friendly cooking initiative in which the GCF approved $8.5 million for Kenya and Senegal. "Some funding had also been approved for adaptation. This has shown we are in the right trajectory," Odhengo told Saturday Standard at the sidelines of the meeting.

"We have been following up on loss and damage. The G77 and China had a position that finance for loss and damage should be scaled up because they are the ones responsible for most of the emissions. Our position is that we need tangible decisions on it," said Dr Sunya Ore, Director of Technical Service at the National Drought Management Authority.

Mr Arnold Ambundo, an observer representing faith-based organisations called for "a very clear and robust mechanism on financing".