G-20 diplomats hit snags on climate, taxation and Ukraine: Sources

BRASILIA - Diplomats from the Group of 20 (G-20) major economies struggled on Nov 16 to overcome differences over paying to tackle climate change, taxing the super rich and addressing the Ukraine war as they negotiated a joint statement before their leaders’ summit.

The G-20 summit in Rio de Janeiro from Nov 18 to 19 comes as the United Nations COP29 climate talks enter their second week, with negotiators debating a new goal for how much money richer nations will cough up to confront climate change. 

UN officials and other delegates in Baku expressed hopes that a strong message from the G-20 leaders could help provide political momentum for a COP29 deal on climate finance. 

However, four diplomats involved in the talks in Rio said they were at a familiar impasse: Developed nations want some of the wealthier developing countries to contribute financing to tackle global warming, but the developing world says it is up to the world’s wealthiest nations to foot the bill.

Reaching a global accord may only get tougher with the return to power of US President-elect Donald Trump, who is preparing to again pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord.

Addressing the Russian invasion of Ukraine has also been a prickly issue for the G-20 since 2022, and the war in Gaza has added to the group’s geopolitical divisions.

G-20 sherpas leading the talks in Rio have tried to avoid discussing the wars in advance meetings all year. Now, diplomats say they plan to limit any text to a general paragraph based on UN principles and the need to respect peace, followed by a paragraph on Ukraine and another on Palestine.

The taxation of large fortunes, a proposal dear to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, host of the G-20 summit, has also hit a stumbling block.

In a last-minute change of mind, Argentina refused to sign off on the inclusion of the proposal in the final communique.

Argentina’s strong opposition to taxing the super-rich came after its right-wing libertarian President Javier Milei visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, making him the first foreign leader to visit the US President-elect.

Sources involved in the G-20 talks said Argentine negotiators, at Mr Milei’s request, now seek to remove mention of taxing the most wealthy, which might enter the communique only with a note reflecting that it was not backed by Argentina. REUTERS