A climate conference falls flat

Delegates at last week’s climate conference in Madrid were supposed to iron out the details of the Paris climate accords’ rules, set provisions for international carbon trading and ramp up climate-action targets.

Instead, they kicked all of that down the road, and some of the world’s biggest polluters — including Brazil, China, India and the United States — pushed back on a range of climate-friendly proposals and targets.

The outcome — a weak declaration about the need to reduce emissions — was widely denounced as one of the worst in a quarter-century of climate negotiations. António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, called it a lost opportunity.

What’s next: The delegates put off important decisions until next year’s climate negotiations in Glasgow, to be held right after the American election in November.