G20 Summit affirms commitment to climate change, focuses on climate financing

At the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) held in 2022, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned the world leaders that humanity is on a “highway to climate hell with a foot on the accelerator”.  This very sense of urgency to address rising temperatures and climate change was visible at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi where the G20 nations committed to urgently accelerate their actions to address environmental crises and challenges including climate change.

As the G20 is collectively responsible for about 80 percent of global emissions, the climate change is an issue that requires global action. The nations acknowledged that the global ambition and implementation to address climate change remain insufficient to achieve the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degree C above pre- industrial levels, and they will pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degree C above pre-industrial levels. Also, limiting global warming to 1.5 degree C requires rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global GHG emissions of 43 per cent by 2030 relative to the 2019 levels.

The New Delhi Leader’s Declaration urged all countries that have not yet aligned their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement, to revisit and strengthen the 2030 targets in their NDCs, as necessary, by the end of 2023, taking into account different national circumstances. The G20 nations also agreed to pursue and encourage efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally through existing targets and policies, as well as demonstrate similar ambition with respect to other zero and low-emission technologies, including abatement and removal technologies, in line with national circumstances by 2030.

G20 nations in New Delhi also reiterated their commitment to achieve global net zero GHG emissions/carbon neutrality by or around mid-century, while taking into account the latest scientific developments and in line with different national circumstances, taking into account different approaches including the Circular Carbon Economy, socio- economic, technological, and market development, and promoting the most efficient solutions.

Recognizing the need for increased global investments to meet climate goals of the Paris Agreement, and to rapidly and substantially scale up investment and climate finance from billions to trillions of dollars globally from all sources, the G20 noted the need of $ 5.8-5.9 trillion in the pre-2030 period required for developing countries, in particular for their needs to implement their NDCs, as well as the need of $4 trillion per year for clean energy technologies by 2030 to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

The G20 members recalled and reaffirmed the commitment made in 2010 by the developed countries to the goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion climate finance per year by 2020, and annually through 2025, to address the needs of the developing countries, in the context of meaningful mitigation action and transparency in implementation. Developed country contributors expect this goal to be met for the first time in 2023.

The G20 nations have promised to successfully to implement the decision at COP27 on funding arrangements for responding to loss and damage for assisting developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, including establishing a fund. It was also stated that Call on Parties (COP) to set an ambitious, transparent and trackable New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) of climate finance in 2024, from a floor of $100 billion a year, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries in fulfilling the objective of the UNFCCC and implementation of the Paris Agreement.

The leaders also affirmed the ‘G20 High Level Voluntary Principles on Hydrogen’, to build a sustainable and equitable global hydrogen ecosystem that benefits all nations.

And as sustainable biofuels are critical to facilitating net zero by 2050, in New Delhi, the G20 Presidency launched the Global Biofuels Alliance with the United States as a founding member along with India, Brazil, Italy, Canada, Argentina, and South Africa. This new Alliance will bring countries together to expand and create new markets for sustainable biofuels.

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