The Group of 20 (G20) major countries were unable to come to terms on specific goals for reducing harmful emissions on Friday, instead issuing a statement that called the present climate change mitigation efforts “inadequate.”

The deadlock, which was the latest in a line of fruitless international summits, occurred only days after experts once more raised the alarm, claiming that human-induced climate change was “absolutely overwhelming” responsible for the catastrophic heatwaves that have spread across North America, Europe, and China.

After three days of discussions in Chennai, southern India, the organisers published a document that revealed the bloc’s continued disagreement over proposals from rich countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and by 60% by 2035 compared to 2019 levels.

The document demonstrated that members were unable to reach consensus on issues such as historical emissions, net-zero goals, depleting carbon budgets, or financing for developing nations.

Prior to the COP28 Summit in the United Arab Emirates in December and the G20 leaders’ meeting in New Delhi in September, the Indian summit was considered as an opportunity for the world’s largest polluters to take decisive action.

According to an Indian official, developed nations in the group had urged reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees.

According to the official, the mitigation targets, which aim to reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions or remove them from the environment, were opposed by developing countries, which said that they would restrict their ability to expand and build infrastructure.

oil-rich China During the G20 negotiations, Saudi Arabia reneged on its commitments, according to members of a European team.

The G20 nations, according to the EU’s Environment Commissioner, were “nowhere” near meeting their promises to combat climate change.

Virginijus Sinkevicius stated in a speech at the conclusion of the meeting that some delegations had attempted to renege on prior climate agreements, a position he said Europe could not tolerate.

“We were asked to make bold choices, to demonstrate courage, commitment and leadership. But we, collectively, failed to achieve that. We cannot be driven by the lowest common denominator, or by narrow national interests. We cannot allow the pace of change to be set by the slowest movers in the room,” he said.

An email requesting comments on the commissioner’s remarks was not answered by India’s ministries of the environment or of foreign affairs.

Just a week prior, the G20 major economies were unable to come to an agreement about the gradual phase-out of fossil fuels due to opposition from some production nations.

Editing by John Stonestreet, Angus MacSwan, and Andrew Heavens; reporting Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Sarita Chaganti Singh and Aftab Ahmed in Delhi; and Kate Abnett in Brussels.

(Adapted from USNews.com)  

Categories: Economy & Finance, Geopolitics, Regulations & Legal, Strategy, Sustainability