By Jack Spring and Lisandra Paragoso
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Diplomatic tensions over global warming will take center stage at this week’s G20 summit in Brazil, as negotiators at U.N. talks in Azerbaijan hit a deadlock on climate finance that they hope Do that the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies can break. .
The heads of state, who arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday for the G20 summit, will discuss issues ranging from poverty and hunger to reforming global institutions on Monday and Tuesday. Still, the ongoing UN climate talks have highlighted their efforts to combat global warming.
While the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan is tasked with agreeing on a target to raise hundreds of billions of dollars for climate change, in Rio the leaders of the Group of 20 largest economies are holding the purse strings. .
G20 countries account for 85% of the world’s economy and are the largest contributors to the multilateral development banks that help drive climate finance. They are also responsible for more than three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
“All countries must play their part. But the G20 must lead,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told COP29 last week. “They are the biggest emitters, with the biggest capabilities and responsibilities.”
Reaching such an agreement could be difficult with the return to power of US President-elect Donald Trump, who is reportedly preparing to pull the US out of the Paris climate accord again.
Trump also plans to roll back landmark climate legislation passed by outgoing Joe Biden, who will become the first U.S. president to visit the Amazon (NASDAQ:) rainforest when he takes office on Sunday. Will stop there on the way to Rio.
UN climate chief Simon Steele wrote a letter to G20 leaders on Saturday urging them to act on climate finance, including increasing grants to developing countries and reforming multilateral development banks. Includes advancing.
However, the same battles that have plagued COP29 since it began last week are spilling over into the G20 talks, according to diplomats close to the Rio talks.
COP29 should set a new target for how much financial aid should be directed to developing countries from developed countries, multilateral banks and the private sector. Economists told the summit it should be at least $1 trillion.
Wealthy countries, particularly in Europe, have argued that an ambitious target can only be agreed upon if they include a few wealthy developing countries, such as China and major oil producers in the Middle East. Expand your base of contributors.
On Saturday, the G20 joint statement talks in Rio touched on the same issue, with European countries urging more countries to contribute and developing countries such as Brazil holding back, diplomats close to the talks. Cars told Reuters.
The success of not only COP29, but COP30, the UN climate summit in Brazil next year, depends on a breakthrough on climate finance.
A centerpiece of Brazil’s COP30 strategy is “Mission 1.5,” the campaign to keep alive the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The United Nations estimates that current national targets will cause temperatures to rise by at least 2.6 degrees Celsius.
Developing countries argue that they can only meet their emissions reduction targets if rich countries, the main culprits of climate change, foot the bill.
“It is technically possible to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius target, but only if, under the leadership of the G20, all greenhouse gas emissions are reduced,” Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis said at COP29 last week. Mass mobilization… should be achieved”.
