Diplomacy: No major progress on climate at the G20 summit in Rio

The leaders of the world’s largest economies did not make any major progress to unblock climate negotiations on Monday during a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro which was impacted by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is chairing the forum this year, while multilateralism, already in bad shape, threatens to be further damaged with the imminent return of Donald Trump to the White House.

Lula can boast of having been able to launch a Global Alliance against hunger and poverty, a coalition of 82 countries, and of a success with a common commitment to cooperate to “effectively” tax the most fortunate.

But, while the COP29 climate conference in Baku did not make it possible, in more than a week, to draw an agreement between rich countries and emerging countries on who should finance adaptation to climate change, there was great expectation. placed in the G20 leaders.

80% of greenhouse gas emissions

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged them on Sunday to assume their “leadership” and to make “compromises” to unblock the negotiations. No white smoke, however, came out of the Museum of Modern Art, on the edge of the sublime bay of Rio, where the summit was held.

“The leaders are passing the buck to Baku, but the problem is that the people who make the decisions are actually in Rio,” Mick Sheldrick, co-founder of the NGO Global Citizen, responded to AFP. “They did not rise to the challenge,” he added, regretting that there was “not even a reference to what was obtained at COP28” last year. in Dubai.

The G20 leaders did not in fact include in their declaration the commitment to “operate a just, orderly and equitable transition towards an exit from fossil fuels in energy systems”, which had been torn from Dubai. The members of the G20 (19 countries, as well as the European Union and the African Union) represent 85% of global GDP and 80% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Long-range missiles

Beyond the tensions linked to climate issues, the major conflicts of the day have shaken up the summit. From the first plenary session, US President Joe Biden called on the G20 countries to support the “sovereignty” of Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

His Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who had already missed the last summits, is notably absent in Rio, where he is represented by his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Joe Biden’s call takes on particular resonance at a strategic moment: the United States gave kyiv a green light on Sunday for the use of its long-range missiles against Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron judged Washington’s decision “completely good” on Monday. But he felt that the joint declaration published Monday evening “would have benefited from being more explicit”.

Call for a “ceasefire”

Without condemning Moscow, the G20 condemned “the threat or use of force to seek territorial gains”. And he welcomed “all relevant and constructive initiatives in favor of a just” and “lasting” peace in Ukraine.

The G20 also called for a “ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, while the Israeli army continues its offensives there. The American president is participating in one of his last major international meetings before handing over the keys of the White House to Donald Trump, an admitted isolationist.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who appeared as the strongman at the summit in Rio, warned that “the world is entering a new period of turbulence and change”, during an interview with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer .

The G20 leaders also endorsed on Monday the idea of ​​cooperating to “effectively” tax very wealthy people, an initiative pushed by Brazilian President Lula. “With full respect for fiscal sovereignty, we will seek to engage in a cooperative manner to ensure that the very wealthy are effectively taxed,” G20 leaders said in a statement released Monday during their summit in Rio de Janeiro .

“Latest news”

Want to stay on top of the news? “24 Heures” offers you two appointments per day, directly in your email box. So you don’t miss anything that’s happening in your Canton, in Switzerland or around the world.

Other newsletters

Log in

AFP

Did you find an error? Please report it to us.

0 comments