EFE.- Today in Naples, Italy, the G20 energy and environment ministers failed in their attempt to persuade countries like China, India or Russia to limit global warming to 1.5°C this century, even though they agreed to accelerate environmental transformation and encourage “green investments.”
“Two of the 60 expected articles have been removed from the final declaration because no agreement could be reached,” said the Italian Environmental Transition Minister, Roberto Cingolani, at a press conference, who had to postpone his appearance due to discrepancies between countries. ..
This Friday meeting was considered a major event on climate change before COP26 (the United Nations Conference on Climate Change) was held in November in the Scottish city of Glasgow (UK) and was “complicated”.
The current Italian presidency has set targets for these economies, which account for 90% of global gross domestic product (GDP), to commit to keeping global warming at 1.5°C, the lowest possible figure contemplated in the Paris Accords. They also join the EU’s intention to achieve a 55% reduction in pollutant emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
There was no agreement on both points, nor on the need to speed up decarbonization and eliminate fossil fuel subsidies.
Regarding the aspect of reducing emissions to 55%, Singolani had already expressed his regret before the celebration of this G20 that there are difficulties, as many countries have lower targets.
However, regarding the intention to keep global warming at 1.5 degrees, the situation has gone awry with countries such as China, India and Russia.
He stressed that “there have been long negotiations with China, India and Russia… and we have had to suspend meetings on several occasions and talk to each of them,” and highlighted the crucial mediation of the US special climate envoy. , John Kerry.
“No one questioned the Paris Agreement,” he said, the differences were in degrees, because five countries “don’t think they can” commit to cutting emissions to keep the temperature at 1.5 degrees, because they have “carbon-intensive” economic models.
They have found common ground in other areas such as promoting “green” finance, advancing a more inclusive and sustainable economic recovery or betting more and more on renewable energies.
Singolani warned that the Italian presidency will prepare a detailed report on what happened in the meeting, with the names of the countries that put the most obstacles in place and their causes, and will publish it soon.
The G20 Energy Meeting concludes as such, after Thursday, the session devoted to biodiversity and the environment concluded with a statement without specific efforts, in which, among other things, a call was made for sustainable water management, water protection. Biodiversity and implementation of actions to achieve decarbonization.
The Italian presidency is raising the bar for global ambition. It is necessary to find a common path: the only way to confront climate change”, this was highlighted by the Italian Ministry of Environmental Transformation on social networks before the end of the meeting.
The two-day G20 meeting on environment and energy was attended by the Argentine Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Juan Cabande, the Under Secretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations, Martha Delgado, and the third Vice President of the Republic of Mexico. Government of Spain and Minister of Environmental Transformation, Teresa Ribera.
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So are the French Minister for Environmental Transformation, Barbara Bombelli, and the State Secretary for the Federal Ministry of the Environment in Germany, Jochen Flasbarth, among others.
The Spanish Ministry of Environmental Transformation and Demographic Challenge said in a Twitter message that Ribera and Kerry met in Naples and shared the need for the European Union and the United States to work together to achieve as much success as possible at the upcoming COP26 from Glasgow.
The French minister also expressed herself in the same vein, stressing that “France and the United States are committed to persuading as many G20 countries as possible to increase their climate ambitions.”
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