The G-20 aims to contain warming to 1.5 degrees but avoids ambitious commitments

The heads of state or government of the G-20 group, which represent 80% of the planet’s gross domestic product and 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, reached an agreement this Sunday in Rome by which they stated its willingness to make efforts to contain global warming to 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial level, pointing out that the goal “will require significant and effective commitments and actions by all countries,” according to the final statement, to which it has had access to this diary. The pact does not contain far-reaching commitments to significantly reverse trends and get closer to that goal, but it does take a step forward by declaring that the member countries of the group will stop financing coal plants abroad by the end of this year.

The negotiation on climate change is the most sensitive part of the summit’s agenda, which in this section serves as a prelude to the expected COP26 in Glasgow. The agreement states that “the impact of climate change with 1.5 degrees is much less than with 2. Keeping the 1.5 target viable will require significant and effective commitments and actions by all countries.”

The document also contains a promise to speed up efforts to eliminate and rationalize fossil fuel subsidies; reaffirms the “importance” of complying with the agreement to mobilize some 100,000 million dollars annually between 2020 and 2025 for the most vulnerable countries (which has not been fulfilled so far), and accelerate the transfer of technology to these countries to facilitate their transition ecological; points to the goal of achieving greenhouse gas emission neutrality before or around mid-century, but without precise linkages. As for methane, together with CO₂, one of the main factors of warming and the subject of a joint initiative by the US and the EU to reduce its emissions, the only figure in the statement is an acknowledgment of its harmful effects and that it may be one of the the most viable and effective options to achieve results.

The decision to finance coal plants in other countries is a step that can help limit the exploitation of this highly polluting fuel. China already announced its intention to stop financing these projects at the end of September. However, the collective decision does not prevent the development of this energy source within the member countries. The final text does not foresee any time horizon to give up its use, a circumstance largely determined by the resistance of countries such as China or India, which continue to depend heavily on coal in their energy mix.

Mario Draghi, Italian Prime Minister and host of the event, welcomed the agreements reached at the closing press conference and accepted that only days ago the positions were much further apart. “It is a success because we keep our dreams alive, we commit to more initiatives, money, and reduction promises. And that has happened when it seemed that in recent months the emerging countries had no interest in acquiring new commitments”, he pointed out in relation to the reticence of so many nations.

Draghi was also sympathetic to China’s reluctance to increase the ambition of the commitments. “I expected a more rigid approach. And there has been a significant movement, embracing a language that looks to the future and not to the past of the numbers of Paris. China has accepted the scientific evidence of the ceiling of the increase of 1.5 degrees, which involves sacrifices. They produce about 50% of the world’s steel, and many of those plants are coal-fired. They are difficult transitions and that explains the difficulty of immediately having more ambitious goals. Today we share ambitions and goals. Now we have to share the speed of action on these targets”. Pronouncing a balance judgment, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres noted that he was leaving Rome with his “hopes unfulfilled, but not buried.”

The second day of the summit also served to hold new bilateral meetings, such as the one that brought together the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. In the midst of the fishing conflict, the French leader responded to his counterpart’s threats and asked that international rules be respected. A Macron adviser, according to Reuters, pointed out that “the objective of both was to reduce” the tension and conflict of recent days. The same adviser assured that Macron now expected “seriousness” and “respect” after days of threats. British sources gave a different version of the meeting, pointing out that London expects Paris to take the first step in a de-escalation.

On the other hand, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, and discussed the growing escalation of tensions between Beijing and Taiwan. During a meeting that lasted about an hour and a half, Blinken expressed with “crystal clarity”, according to Reuters, that Washington opposes any unilateral change in the status quo of relations between the two Asian countries. A gesture that the Government of Taiwan had been waiting for days.

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von de Leyen, appeared jointly to report on the agreement reached between Washington and Brussels to deactivate the tariff war on steel and aluminum unleashed by the Trump Administration .

A specific meeting of some of the leaders present at the summit on the issue of failures in global supply chains is also scheduled for this Sunday afternoon. Washington promotes an attempt at cooperation in this area, and seeks, on the other hand, to increase pressure on gas and crude oil producers to increase their production and thus ease the pressure on prices.

Source: The Country