The leaders of the G20 meeting in Rome have agreed to achieve carbon neutrality “about the middle of this century” and promised to end financing for foreign coal power plants by the end of this year, but they have failed to reach an agreement on phasing out domestic coal. .
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote on Twitter: “Although I welcome the renewed commitment of the G20 to global solutions, when I left Rome, my hopes did not materialize—but At least not buried.”
The leaders released their final communiqué on Sunday at the end of the two-day summit. After this, a broader UN climate change summit will be held in Glasgow, Scotland this week.
They are also committed to achieving the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is in line with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement’s global commitment to control global warming above the pre-industrial level “far below” 2 degrees Celsius, which is best controlled. At 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The communiqué said: “We recognize that the impact of climate change at 1.5 degrees Celsius is much lower than 2 degrees Celsius. Keeping 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach requires all countries to take meaningful and effective actions and commitments.”
This group of 19 countries and the European Union accounts for more than three-quarters of the world‘s greenhouse gas emissions.
In October, more than 20 countries joined a plan led by the United States and the European Union to reduce methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.
However, coal is a bigger controversy. China and India, members of the G20, resisted attempts to make a statement on the phasing out of domestic coal consumption.
Another key issue is climate finance, where rich countries promise to provide 100 billion US dollars a year to support developing countries’ efforts to reduce emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change. Indonesia is a major greenhouse gas emitter and will take over as chairman of the G20 in December. It urges developed countries to fulfill their financing commitments in Rome and Glasgow.
Also on Sunday, the United States and the European Union announced the end of the Trump-era tariffs on EU steel and settled the EU’s dispute over retaliatory tariffs on American products including whiskey and power ships.
US President Joe Biden told reporters during the G20 summit: “The United States and the European Union have jointly created a new era of transatlantic cooperation. I believe that in the years to come, this will benefit all our people.”
Global supply chain
Biden held a meeting with the other 14 member states of the G20 to discuss the global supply chain crisis. The 20 members of the summit accounted for more than 80% of world GDP and 75% of global trade.
The United States urged other countries to help reduce supply chain problems and announced new measures to make the U.S. supply chain more resilient. The main points of this new effort include reducing US inventories, increasing funding for trade facilitation activities to reduce red tape, and organizing a summit with multiple stakeholders and foreign counterparts next year.
It was China that was obviously absent from this meeting.
Speaking of the global dependence on Chinese goods, Biden urged countries to diversify their supply chains, “so that we will not rely on any single source that may lead to failure.”
China is considered the “world factory”, but President Xi Jinping did not attend the summit in person. In a virtual speech by the leaders of the Group of 20, Xi Jinping proposed to hold an international forum for a resilient and stable industry and supply chain.
Solving the problem of global business disruption has always been a priority of the Biden administration, and the Biden administration is worried that these bottlenecks will hinder economic recovery after the pandemic. In order to solve the US supply chain problem, the US government recently announced a plan to extend operations at two California ports, Los Angeles and Long Beach, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These two ports account for 40% of US imported sea traffic.
Matthew Goodman, senior vice president of economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: “Whether you’re talking about medical equipment, consumer goods supplies or other products, it’s important for the global economy. It’s all a challenge.”
Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the United States and Americas program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, said that some specific measures to ease pressure points in the global supply chain may take longer, such as shortening the supply chain and rethinking Dependency.
“None of these can be resolved quickly,” she said. “But historically, the G-20 was actually established to respond to short-term crises. Therefore, I think that considerable efforts will be made…to solve this problem.”
(This article refers to information from the Associated Press and Reuters)
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