The G20 group of economies has failed to come to an agreement about phasing out fossil fuels during their meeting in India, after objections by some producer countries.
After the four day meeting – which took place in Panaji, the capital state of Goa, India – a chair summary was shared instead of a joint communiqué. A joint communiqué is shared when there is agreement between members.
They failed to reach consensus on mobilising $100 billion towards climate action in developing countries from 2020-2025, and failed to agree on curbing “unabated use”.
In a press conference after the meeting Indian power minister Raj Kumar Singh said: “We had complete agreement on 22 out of 29 paragraphs and seven paragraphs constitute the chair summary”.
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The chair statement also highlighted that while the issue was viewed as important some countries “had different views on the matter that abatement and removal technologies will address such concerns”.
Singh said that some countries wanted to use carbon capture instead of abatement. While Singh did not name the countries, producer countries who generally oppose tripling renewable energy capacity include Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, South Africa and Indonesia.
Collectively, the G20 nations account for more than three quarters of the world’s global emissions – with the worst polluters including Saudi Arabia, Canada and Australia.
The news comes as extreme weather has been afflicting nations including Greece, and the US.Earlier this year, scientists said that the world is likely to reach 1.5°C above preindustrial levels by 2027, with impacts that could be harmful to human health.
The UK, which is a G20 nation, has received criticism on its net zero policies from the government’s own advisors the CCC (Climate Change Committee) who said that the country was behind on issues like green jobs and rolling out electric vehicle charging points.
