Kathmandu, Dec. 6 -- In the strict legalese that the United Nations is accustomed to, the Madrid Climate Summit is called the 25th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We will call it COP25 for short. After riots engulfed Santiago in Chile, the venue was shifted to Madrid - just as well because that reduced the carbon footprint of the gathering.
COP25 comes at a time when scientists have warned that the goals of the Paris Agreement of 2015 are outdated, and the targets for curbing carbon emissions need to be revised. Erratic weather, the melting of polar ice-caps, glaciers shrinking in the Himalaya and other climate-induced changes that scientists expected to happen in 2030 are al...