By Jake Spring and Lisandra Paraguassu
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Political tensions over global warming will take center stage at the G20 summit in Brazil this week, as negotiators at the UN talks in Azerbaijan grapple with a climate finance crisis that leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies hope to dismantle. .
Heads of state arriving in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday for the G20 summit will spend Monday and Tuesday discussing issues ranging from poverty and hunger to reforming global institutions. However, the ongoing UN climate talks have put a spotlight on their efforts to deal with global warming.
While the COP29 conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, is tasked with agreeing to a goal of mobilizing hundreds of billions of dollars on climate, leaders of the Group of 20 major economies half a world away in Rio are holding the reins.
The G20 countries make up 85% of the global economy and are the largest contributors to the multilateral development banks that help guide climate finance. They are also responsible for more than three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“All countries must do their part. But the G20 must lead,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told COP29 last week. “They are the greatest producers of all, with the greatest talents and responsibilities.”
Reaching such an agreement may be more difficult with the return to power of President-elect Donald Trump, who is reportedly preparing to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement.
Trump also plans to roll back landmark climate legislation passed by outgoing Joe Biden, who will become the first US president to visit the Amazon rainforest (NASDAQ: ) when he stops there on Sunday on his way to Rio.
UN chief Simon Stiell wrote a letter to G20 leaders on Saturday urging them to work on climate finance, including increasing aid for developing countries and advancing reforms at multilateral development banks.
However, the same battles that plagued COP29 since it started last week are moving to the G20 talks, according to officials close to the Rio talks.
COP29 must set a new goal of how much money should be directed to developing countries, international banks and private companies. Economists told the conference that it should be at least $1 billion.
Rich countries, especially in Europe, have been saying that the ambitious goal can only be allowed if they expand the donor base to include the richest developing countries, such as China and the major oil producers in the Middle East.
On Saturday, talks on a G20 joint statement in Rio clashed over the same issue, with European countries demanding more countries to contribute and developing countries such as Brazil backing out, officials close to the talks told Reuters.
The success of not only COP29 but also the next UN climate conference, COP30 to be hosted in Brazil next year, depends on the development of climate finance.
The core of Brazil’s COP30 strategy is “Goal 1.5,” the mission to keep alive the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The UN estimates that current national targets could cause temperatures to rise by at least 2.6 degrees C.
Developing countries say they can only lift their emissions reduction targets if rich countries, which are responsible for climate change, foot the bill.
“It is technically possible to achieve the 1.5 degrees Celsius target, but only if the G20-led, massive push to cut greenhouse gas emissions … is met,” said Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis at COP29 last week.
