The ‘Outcome Document’ released at the end of the two-day G20 Environment and Climate Ministers meeting in Chennai, shows sharp differences in the positions of various countries on crucial issues such as tripling of renewable energy, energy transitions, the carbon border adjustment mechanism of the EU and the Russia-Ukraine war.

There was no agreement on renewable energy. The document merely says that “discussions covered a range of issues including the climate energy nexus, further accelerating the scaling up of renewable energy, tripling of renewable energy capacity, phasing down on unabated fossil fuels, doubling the global rate of improvement of energy efficiency. Members simply did not want to take up issues energy-related issues, saying that they could be discussed in the Energy Transition Working Group.

Criticisms are pouring in. Alex Scott, Climate Diplomacy and Geopolitics Programme Lead at climate change think tank E3G, says, “Europe and North Africa are burning, Asia is ravaged with floods yet G20 climate ministers have failed to agree on a shared direction to halt the climate crisis which is escalating day by day. Reports of Saudi Arabia and China stifling the forum’s political space to even discuss a new direction on the energy transition fly in the face of their claims of defending the interests of developing countries.”

Aarti Khosla, Director, Climate Trends, a Delhi-based company that works in capacity building, notes the “disheartening lack of political will by several countries,”  Despite India’s earnest efforts at the G20, the goal remained elusive at both the Energy Transition Working Group and the Environment and Climate Sustainable Working Group, she said.

The subject of Russia-Ukraine war, expectedly, turned out to be a contentious issue. “Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine” noting its deleterious impact on global energy supply chains, but countries like China said that it was not the forum to discuss geopolitical issues.

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Union Minister for Environment Bhupender Yadav flanked by CP Goyal, Director General Forest, and Leena Nandan, Union Environment Secretary, at the press meet after the conclusion of the G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Ministers’ meeting in Chennai.

G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Ministers’ meet concludes with 95 per cent consensus

In the end, the meeting concluded with no firm agreement.

G20 Environment and Climate Ministers only “reaffirmed” the commitment made by developed countries to the goal of jointly mobilising $100 billion climate finance per year by 2020, and annually through 2025.

Developed country-contributors expect this goal to be met for the first time in 2023. “We note that some parties have submitted biennial update reports and encourage others to report transparently on their implementation efforts in a timely manner.

Funding arrangements

G20 will work to successfully 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 will support the Transitional Committee established in this regard and look forward to its recommendations on operationalising the new funding arrangements including a fund at COP28.

“We call for a fully operational Santiago Network to catalyse, as soon as possible, technical assistance for the implementation of approaches to avert, minimise, and address loss and damage at the local, national, and regional levels in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. We should facilitate the improvement of accessibility of those countries to the multiple currently available support measures,” the document said.

“We express our support to the call of the United Nations Secretary-General for ‘early warnings for all’ by 2027 to protect everyone on Earth through universal coverage of early warning systems against extreme weather and climate change, and we encourage to provide support, as appropriate, to this initiative. We also welcome the establishment of the G20 Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction and its further discussion which has the potential to contribute to climate resilience,” the document said.

Need for urgent climate action

The members stressed the importance of means of implementation support to developing countries, as critical enablers for urgent climate action required in a warming world. “We note the complexities associated with the diversity of definitions of climate finance and we look forward to the outcomes from the work of the Standing Committee on Finance on clustering types of climate finance definitions in use that could be considered within the UNFCCC process, by COP28,” the document said.

“We further call for accelerated, adequate and additional mobilisation of climate finance from Multilateral Development Banks, International Financing Institutions, private sector, and other sources to enable climate action,” the document said.

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