Spain Agrees to Host Key Climate Talks After Chile Pulls Out

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

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.

Chile’s sudden withdrawal had prompted United Nations officials to scramble to find a venue and a host country ready to accommodate an estimated 20,000 delegates. “It is encouraging to see countries working together in the spirit of multilateralism to address climate change, the biggest challenge facing this and future generations,” said Patricia Espinosa, the head of the United Nations climate agency.

The annual United Nations-sponsored talks are designed to help stave off the most catastrophic effects of climate change. They are part of the 2015 Paris climate accord, under which countries agreed to set their own targets to rein in their own greenhouse gas emissions.

The United States is the only country in the world to announce its intention to pull out of the Paris accord. The Trump administration is expected to file its formal withdrawal notice with the United Nations in early November, but the United States cannot actually pull out of the deal until the end of 2020, after the next presidential election.

The climate talks come against the backdrop of intensifying youth protests demanding swifter action and new scientific reports about the human cost of climate change.

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