RIO DE JANEIRO — Diplomatic tensions over global warming spilt over into the G20 summit negotiations in Brazil this week, with sources saying the 20 major economies reached a fragile consensus on climate finance that had eluded UN talks in Azerbaijan.
Heads of state arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday (Nov 17) for the G20 summit and will spend Monday and Tuesday addressing issues from poverty and hunger to the reform of global institutions. The talks must now also grapple with how to address escalating violence in Ukraine after a deadly Russian airstrike on Sunday.
Still, the ongoing UN climate talks have thrown a spotlight on their efforts to tackle global warming.
While the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, is tasked with agreeing a goal to mobilise hundreds of billions of dollars for climate, leaders of the Group of 20 major economies half a world away in Rio are holding the purse strings.
G20 countries account for 85 per cent of the world’s economy and are the largest contributors to multilateral development banks helping to steer climate finance.
“The spotlight is naturally on the G20. They account for 80 per cent of global emissions,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told reporters in Rio de Janeiro. He expressed concern about the state of the COP29 talks in Baku and called on G20 leaders to do more to fight climate change.
PHOTO: Reuters” data-entity-type=”file” data-entity-uuid=”f85577ac-d98b-4b4f-bc16-87a2e7c9b603″ src=”http://www.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Screenshot%202024-11-18%20093008.png”>
But early Sunday morning, negotiators agreed to a text mentioning developing nations’ voluntary contributions to climate finance, stopping short of calling them obligations, according to two diplomats.
The breakthrough remains overshadowed by the return to power of US President-elect Donald Trump, who is reportedly preparing to again pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement. His election throws into doubt how much money the world can muster to address climate change, possibly without the support of the world’s largest economy.
Trump is planning to roll back landmark climate legislation passed by outgoing President Joe Biden, who visited the Amazon rainforest when he made a stop there on Sunday on his way to Rio.
The success of not only COP29 but also the next UN climate summit, COP30 hosted in Brazil next year, hinges on an ambitious deal on climate finance.
A centrepiece of Brazil’s COP30 strategy is “Mission 1.5,” a drive to keep alive the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The UN estimates that current national targets would cause temperatures to rise by at least 2.6 degrees C.
Developing countries argue they can only raise their targets for emissions reductions if rich nations, who are the main culprits for climate change, foot the bill.
“It is technically possible to meet the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius, but only if a G20-led, massive mobilisation to cut all greenhouse gas emissions… is achieved,” said Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis at COP29 last week.
[[nid:709770]]
