At the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, on September 9, the leaders' declaration was disappointing on key issues such as ending the use of polluting oil and gas.
US President Joe Biden speaks with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at G20 summit © AP
Without capturing emissions, major economies have failed to set a timetable to stop using fossil fuels. G-20 leaders "failed to act" on the most critical aspect of limiting climate change.
But a group of 20 countries responsible for about 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions agreed at the G7 meeting earlier this year on a goal of tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030.
In the leaders' statement issued at the meeting, there was no mention of phasing out oil and gas, even though the burning of fossil fuels is the biggest cause of man-made global warming. They pledged only to "phase down" coal "in line with national circumstances" and avoided any reference to phasing out all polluting fuels.
In a recent assessment of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in nearly 200 countries, the United Nations deemed this action (phasing out all polluting fuels) "indispensable.". In its first "global stocktaking," the
United Nations found that the world is far from achieving the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (ideally 1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels.
"To have a chance of meeting the Paris Agreement's 1.5 ° C temperature limit, all fossil fuel production and use must be significantly reduced", Alden Meyer, a senior researcher at climate consultancy E3G, said: Attention will now turn to whether countries can agree to phase out all fossil fuels at COP28, the UN climate summit in Dubai at the end of the year, despite growing geopolitical tensions.
According to related news, Saudi Arabia opposed renewable energy targets at the G20 Climate and Energy Ministers'Meeting in July, calling for greater use of carbon capture and storage technology to achieve sustainable oil and gas production.
Despite the lack of agreement on fossil fuels, the G-20's commitment to promote green energy was widely welcomed. Sultan al-Jaber of the United Arab Emirates, the incoming president of COP28, said he was "particularly grateful for the commitments regarding the ambitious renewable energy target" on which he hopes to reach a global agreement at COP28. Andreas Sieber, 350.org's deputy director of
policy and campaigns, said the agreement to triple renewable energy was "a historic step and a glimmer of hope for our response to climate chaos". The
G20 declaration, referring to carbon capture facilities that have yet to be proven on a large scale, said that in addition to expanding renewable energy, countries agreed to "show similar ambition in other zero-emission and low-emission technologies, including emission reduction and removal technologies, in line with national conditions by 2030". They also acknowledged the need to raise $4 trillion a year by 2030 for clean energy technologies in developing countries in order to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
The G20 also supports the reform of multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank, to provide additional loans to address climate change. During the summit, the G20 agreed to include the African Union in the list of G20 members. Mohamed Adow, founder and director of Powershift Africa, said the inclusion of countries at the "forefront of the climate crisis" would hopefully "provide some impetus to improve the quality and urgency of the G20's response to climate change.".
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