Brazil urges G-20 leaders to move faster on net-zero climate targets

RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Nov 19 urged leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20) major economies to accelerate their national climate targets, calling on them to reach net-zero climate emissions five to 10 years ahead of schedule.

Opening the last session of the G-20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Mr Lula suggested countries bring forward their targets to reach climate neutrality by 2040 or 2045, instead of 2050 as Brazil and many others have pledged.

“We have to do more and better,” he said, noting that 2024 is likely the world’s warmest year on record as climate disasters such as flooding and droughts become more frequent and intense.

“There is no time to lose,” he added.

World leaders are trying to shore up a global response to climate change before Donald Trump retakes the US presidency in January, when he plans to roll back US policy on global warming and reportedly exit the landmark Paris Agreement.

Argentinian President Javier Milei served as a reminder in Rio of those changing winds, fresh off of visiting Trump at his Florida resort. Mr Milei told G-20 leaders he objected to a joint communique promoting gender equality, taxation of billionaires and sustainable development, according to people in the meeting.

Mr Lula rushed through approval of the G-20 leaders’ joint statement on Nov 18, securing a consensus on climate change but irking some European countries that wanted stronger language on the escalating war between Ukraine and Russia.

The joint statement called for “rapidly and substantially increasing climate finance from billions to trillions from all sources” to confront global warming.

G-20 nations are seen as vital to shaping the response to global warming, as they account for 85 per cent of the world economy and more than three-quarters of climate-warming emissions.

The joint statement also urged negotiators at the United Nations climate summit COP29 under way in Azerbaijan to reach a deal on a new financial goal for how much money rich nations must provide to poorer developing nations in climate finance, the main sticking point in the climate talks.

At the G-20 summit on Nov 19, when leaders turned their discussion to the environment, Mr Lula urged developing countries to broaden their climate targets to address all emissions that cause global warming, and not just from certain sectors or gases.

US President Joe Biden told the gathering that developing countries need to have enough firepower and access to capital to slow climate change and protect their nations from its effects. That money needs to flow into their economies and give breathing room to debt-laden countries.

“History is watching us,” Mr Biden said. “I urge us to keep the faith and keep going. This is the single greatest existential threat to humanity.”

COP29 talks

At the leaders’ meeting on Nov 19, Mr Lula proposed the creation of a new council at the UN to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

He also criticised developed countries for falling short of a promise to deliver US$100 billion (S$134 billion) of climate financing annually to developing countries by 2020.

Mr Lula noted negotiations at COP29 on the new financial goal, which could reach more than a trillion dollars.

Those talks, set to conclude on Nov 22, became bogged down as developed countries call for more countries to contribute towards the goal, while the developing world argues that the rich nations most responsible for climate change need to pay up.

The G-20 leaders’ statement on Nov 18 said nations must break the impasse on finance, but they did not give clear guidance on a solution.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell, in a statement responding to the G-20 communique, said: “G-20 leaders have sent a clear message to their negotiators at COP29: Do not leave Baku without a successful new finance goal. This is in every country’s clear interests.”

Climate negotiators aimed to produce a full draft of a deal for the financial goal by Nov 20, said the summit’s lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev of Azerbaijan.

“We have stepped up the pace,” he said. “The outcome will only be as good as parties’ commitment to help us build solutions.”

The G-20 also committed to agreeing on a legally binding treaty to limit plastic pollution by the end of 2024, with talks resuming next week to hammer out a deal two years in the making. REUTERS