Despite its geopolitical divisions, the G20 cannot afford to "relegate" climate change to the back burner, warns the UN Climate Chief, calling for a "new agreement" between developed and developing countries to unlock the billions of dollars needed to combat warming.
"Relegating climate to the back burner is not the solution to a disorder that will decimate every G20 economy and has already begun to cause damage," Simon Stiell said in a speech delivered in London on Wednesday, April 10, just over a month after a deadlock at a G20 Finance Ministers meeting in Brazil, due to divisions over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
"Passing the buck is not a strategy," and "relegating climate to the back burner is not the solution to a disorder that will decimate every G20 economy and has already started causing damage," Simon Stiell reiterated in London. The G20, divided over geopolitical issues, cannot "relegate" climate disruption which "will decimate" their economies, alerts the UN official.
As humanity's greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and the Earth's temperature sets uninterrupted records, financing the energy transition and adapting the warming economies of developing countries is a central theme of the 2024 international climate negotiations.
COP29, scheduled for November in Baku, aims to set the new amount of climate aid from wealthy countries, replacing the current $100 billion a year. The future target, crucial for rebuilding trust between the North and South, will remain far below the needs, estimated at several trillions.
Therefore, by Baku "we need a new agreement on financing the fight against climate change, between developed and developing countries," emphasized the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Debt relief for poor countries, reform of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), adaptation of development banks, and financial innovations, including through new international taxes, are at the heart of the discussions.
Three months later, Simon Stiell is putting pressure on, a week before the spring meetings of global finance leaders at the World Bank and IMF in Washington.
"The financial firepower that the G20 mobilized during the global financial crisis (in 2008) should be mobilized again and firmly directed towards reducing runaway emissions" and adapting to the immediate damages of climate change, stated the UN Climate Chief, tasked with implementing the Paris Agreement.
The G20's leadership, which represents 80% of humanity's emissions, "must be at the heart of the solution, as it was during the great financial crisis," added Mr. Stiell to this forum of wealthy countries and major emerging economies, including China, India, and Brazil.
Countries worldwide must raise their greenhouse gas reduction targets, currently insufficient to limit warming to 1.5°C as planned by the Paris Agreement, reminded the senior UN official.
In a climate already warmed by about 1.2°C, countries must define by COP30 in Brazil in 2025, an ambitious revision of their national emission reduction targets for 2035.
However, unlocking financial aid from wealthy countries is "a prerequisite" for the efforts of developing countries on these targets, highlighted Simon Stiell, reminding G7 countries of their "absolutely crucial" role "as principal shareholders of the World Bank and IMF."
His warning comes as inflation and the constraints of the ecological transition threaten, two months before the European elections, to undermine the climate ambitions of wealthy countries and, by extension, international financial solidarity.
"Every voice counts" and "if you wish for more bold climate action, it is time to make it known," concluded Simon Stiell to the "citizens" of the world, as dozens of elections are scheduled in 2024 in various countries where nearly half of the world's population lives.
On March 1, G20 finance ministers concluded their meeting in Sao Paulo without an agreement on a joint statement due to an "impasse" related to divisions over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
The unlocking of billions of dollars needed for the energy transition and adaptation to extreme phenomena in developing economies is a central theme of the 2024 international climate negotiations, ahead of COP29 in November at Baku and at the heart of the World Bank and IMF's mid-April spring meetings.
If all countries must revise their emission reduction plans by COP30 in 2025, unlocking financial aid is a "prerequisite" for the efforts of developing countries, "without which all economies, including those of the G7, will soon face severe and lasting difficulties," stressed the UN Climate Chief.
This warning comes as inflation and the constraints of the ecological transition threaten, two months before the European elections, to challenge the climate ambitions of wealthy countries and, consequently, international financial solidarity.
