The G-20 agrees to “dedicate efforts” to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees

After long negotiations that have lasted through the Roman night, the G-20 has already reached an agreement to contain climate change. As G-20 sources confirm to La Vanguardia, the members of this club meeting in Rome have agreed to “dedicate efforts” to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees and have committed to “further actions” against the emergency in the coming ten years.

This is a commitment that they did not reach during the G-20 environment ministers’ meeting, held a few months ago in Naples. So they did not convince countries like China or India to keep the temperature at 1.5 degrees, as encouraged by the Paris Agreement six years ago.

However, a first document leaked to the media shows that Rome’s final declaration is less ambitious than initially thought. It does not use much different language from the Paris pact, which stipulated keeping global warming well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels while inviting the 1.5 degree limit. The document speaks of ratifying the Paris objectives, for which it calls for “effective and significant actions and commitments” by all countries, but stresses that it will be done “depending on national circumstances.” In other words, there are no new concrete commitments.

The reluctance of China and India

This is a commitment that they did not reach during the meeting of Environment Ministers

The agreement also does not stipulate zero emissions in 2050, the great hope of the Italian presidency for this G-20. The most polluting country on the planet, China, is willing to commit to zero emissions by 2060, but other large emitters such as India or Russia do not want to set dates of this type. In the end, according to G-20 sources, they have opted for the broader formula “around the middle of the century”, which satisfies a greater number of powers.

The feeling is that in the end they have had to accept a more ambiguous declaration in order to reach a minimum agreement to take to the COP26 in Glasgow with the signature of countries such as Russia or China, who do not want their economic development to be compromised by the battle against global warming and resisted decarbonization.

It was something that had already been warned from the beginning due to the notorious absences of their leaders, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, who have intervened by videoconference and have delegated their teams alleging reasons related to the health emergency. In his speech Xi has lost the implementation of the Paris Agreement under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”.

The G-20, whose countries together account for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, also contemplates the commitment not to finance the most polluting types of coal-fired power plants abroad and subscribes to the importance of complying with investments per 100,000 million dollars a year for developing countries to be able to implement policies that allow them to respect environmental commitments.

“We must translate the beautiful words into actions,” the Prince of Wales, Charles of England, who opened the sessions this Sunday in Rome, warned in Rome. “The future of humanity is at stake.” During the afternoon, the host Prime Minister, the Italian Mario Draghi, will explain the conclusions at a press conference.

Source: The Vanguard