Report from the Madrid Climate Conference

The report evaluates COP25 as a failure in meeting the global call for increased climate ambition, noting a disconnect between mass mobilizations and the lack of urgency among negotiating Parties. While it highlights progress in gender-related frameworks and the establishment of the Santiago network for loss and damage, it emphasizes significant failures in integrating human rights and indigenous protections into Article 6 carbon market rules and the Warsaw International Mechanism. The document concludes by identifying 2020 advocacy opportunities to ensure human rights safeguards are embedded in NDCs and carbon trading modalities.

• COP25 failed to meet the global demand for increased climate ambition, reflecting a disconnect between the urgency felt by civil society and activists and the lack of urgency among negotiating Parties.
• The sudden relocation of COP25 from Santiago, Chile, to Madrid, Spain, created barriers for public participation, particularly for indigenous peoples, grassroots organizations, and representatives from Latin America.
• Negotiations on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement ended without agreement, which the report views as a positive outcome because the proposed rules lacked robust social and environmental safeguards, independent grievance processes, and protections for human rights and indigenous peoples.
• The 'San José Principles for High Ambition and Integrity in International Carbon Markets', endorsed by 32 countries, failed to include references to social safeguards or the rights of indigenous peoples and human rights.
• The review of the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) on Loss and Damage resulted in the creation of the 'Santiago network for averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change', but failed to secure new and additional finance.
• A significant achievement of COP25 was the adoption of a renewed five-year Lima work programme (LWP) and a Gender Action Plan (GAP), which for the first time in UN climate talks referenced discrimination and intersectionality.
• The Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP) adopted its first two-year workplan, providing a mechanism to integrate traditional knowledge and indigenous rights into the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2020). Report from the Madrid Climate Conference. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CIELreportCOP25_HumanRights.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Report from the Madrid Climate Conference. 2020. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CIELreportCOP25_HumanRights.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Report from the Madrid Climate Conference |date=January 2020 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CIELreportCOP25_HumanRights.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2020report, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Report from the Madrid Climate Conference}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2020}, month = jan, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CIELreportCOP25_HumanRights.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }