G20 can overcome financial roadblock to climate resilience
The
upcoming G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi
By Dr. Seema Javed
The upcoming
G20 Leaders' Summit in New Delhi
on 9-10 September is critical
for shaping meaningful, pragmatic, and impactful outcomes at COP28 this year.
It will decide on what G20 group of countries agree on energy and finance, the
two key tracks within the negotiations.
The G20
energy, climate and environment track meetings ended last month with the Indian
Presidency working hard to find a resolution on a range of issues.
This is most
urgent given that the climate crisis is becoming the new reality and we are
forced to deal with its consequences on a daily basis.
UN Urges
Swift Support for Developing Nations' Clean Energy Transition to Achieve 2030
Climate Goal
The UN has
called for urgent support to developing countries to enable them to attract
significantly more investment for their transition to clean energy.A
significant increase in investment in sustainable energy systems in developing
countries is crucial for the world to reach climate goals by 2030.
We must
seize every opportunity to keep the 1.5 degrees within reach, effectively
adapting to a changing climate and sufficiently responding to the different
forms of losses and damages.
India's
G20 Climate Agenda: Sustainable Development, Climate Resilience, and Clean
Energy Solutions Amidst Record Fossil Fuel Funding
India's
priorities in the G20 climate agenda include sustainable development, climate
resilience and equitable solutions.
Climate resilience can only be achieved
by adopting low-carbon emission technologies such as renewable energy(
Solar, wind, micro hydro and biofuels).
According to
a recent report Fanning the Flames by the International Institute for
Sustainable Development (IISD) :- G20 members provided a record USD 1.4
trillion in public money to support fossil fuels in 2022. The study Provides Record Financial Support for Fossil
Fuels. The amount—which includes fossil
fuel subsidies (USD 1 trillion), investments by state-owned enterprises (USD
322 billion), and lending from public financial institutions USD 50 billion.
Which is
more than double the pre-energy crisis levels of 2019, at a time when the
climate crisis is only getting worse— from the fires in Hawaii to torrential
rains in Beijing and floods across large parts of north India— the pace of
action is far behind what is needed to build resilience, ensure adaptation and
work on mitigating emissions.
Among the
G20, there are divisions on increasing ambition for tripling global renewable
energy capacity, phasing down unabated fossil fuel, doubling energy efficiency
and agreeing on global peaking emissions no later than 2025. A central point of
contention is the need for more available and affordable finance to support the
transition.
India's
challenges to achieving the G20 climate goals include the reluctance of wealthy
nations to phase out fossil fuels. Even
though The Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement call for financial assistance
from Parties with more financial resources to those that are less endowed and
more vulnerable. So far there has been little and inadequate support to
developing nations through climate finance. The lack of definitional clarity
over climate finance in COP27 has left no accountability for failed promises.
Developing
countries are the least responsible for climate change but bear most of its
brunt. Adaptation should address risks from climate change and extreme weather,
for example by safeguarding agriculture, managing the impact of rising seas,
and making infrastructure more resilient.
According to
IISd researchers -G20 governments spend
this massive amount of public money into fossil fuels despite the increasingly
devastating impacts of climate change establishing a carbon tax floor of USD
25–50/tCO2e. These funds could help solve some of the most pressing issues of
sustainability and climate resilience. The G20 Leaders’ Summit next month gives
India a chance to become a facilitator of financial reforms if it can broker
any agreement on lifting the utilisation and provision of finance.
The IISD
report urges G20 members to raise an additional USD 1 trillion every year by
setting minimum carbon taxation levels of USD 25–75/tCO2e.
Shifting G20
fossil fuel spending could install enough renewables to align with 1.5°C while
tackling global hunger, energy access gaps. Just what the fourth and the final
Environment and Climate Ministers' Meet
in Chennai adopted-Chennai High Level Principles for a Sustainable and
Resilient Blue/Ocean-based Economy.
Meanwhile
the developed countries in the face of the climate crisis should make climate finance more available, accessible,
and affordable; doubling adaptation finance, operationalizing the loss and
damage fund, tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030.
(Writer
is A communications professional in the field of climate and energy.)
