ROMA: The leaders of the 20 main economic group holding their first face-to-face summit in two years, struggling on Sunday to bridge the difference in how to fight global warming ahead of the climate change conference.
The diplomats worked through the night who were looking for an agreement on traditional final communiques.
But there were no significant signs of progress, an official for one of the delegates said, refused to be named.
“The fight against climate change is the challenge of defining our day,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who led the G20 this year, told his fellow leader when he opened the discussion that day.
“Whether we act now, face the transition fees and succeed in moving our economy to a more sustainable path or we delay, pay a much higher price and the risk of failure.” With a draft Communique that shows the results of scant in terms of new commitment to curb pollution or greenhouse gases, climate scientists and activists tend to be disappointed except breakthroughs.
The G20 Bloc – which includes Brazil, China, India, Germany and the United States – accounts for 80% of global gas emissions that scientists say must be reduced sharply to avoid climate disasters.
For this reason, this weekend meeting was seen as a vital stepping stone to the UN COP26 climate summit which was attended by nearly 200 countries in Glasgow, where most G20 leaders would fly directly from Rome.
“The latest reports are disappointing, with a little sense of urgency in facing existential emergencies,” Oscar Soria said from the network of Avaaz activists.
“There is no more time for an unclear hope list, we need commitment and concrete actions.” The aim of the mid-century, a fifth draft of the final G20 statement seen by Reuters on Saturday did not strengthen the language in climate action compared to the previous version.
In some major areas, such as the need to achieve zero zero emissions in 2050, it softened it.
This medieval target date is the objective of the UN experts needed to close global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius seen as a limit to avoid dramatic climate change.
The UN experts say even if the current national plan to curb emissions is fully implemented, the world towards Heating 2.7C.
The largest carbon emitter of the planet, China, aims for net zero in 2060, while other major pollutants such as India and Russia are also not committed to the mid-century deadlines.
The G20 Energy and Environment Minister who met in Naples in July failed to reach an agreement about setting the date to remove the fossil fuel subsidy and end coal power asked the leaders to find the resolution at the peak this weekend.
Based on the latest drafts, they have made a little progress, promised to “do the best” to stop building a new coal power plant before the end of the 2030s and said they would remove fossil fuel subsidies “on the medium term.
On the other hand, they promised to stop financing of coal-power plants abroad at the end of this year.
Some developing countries are reluctant to commit to steep emissions deductions until the rich nations make goodness in the promise made 12 years ago to provide $ 100 billion per year from 2020 to help them overcome the effects of global warming.
The promise was still not saved, contributing to the “distrust” that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday was the progress of being destroyed in climate negotiations.