As the United Nations’ annual climate conference in Madrid winds to a close, it has become clear that climate summits are stuck in a rut. The job of cutting global emissions is actually getting harder, and not just because the planet keeps warming. Climate summits have become festivals at which leaders talk about leadership. Those leaders mattered because through their own actions, they could make a big dent in the climate problem. Today, reliable climate leaders account for just about 20 percent of global emissions, a share that keeps shrinking as they make further cuts while emissions from the rest of the world keep growing.

Source: International New York Times December 13, 2019 16:07 UTC