DAt a meeting of their energy ministers, the group of leading industrialized and emerging countries (G20) was unable to agree on a timetable for phasing out climate-damaging fossil fuels. In the final document of the meeting in the Indian state of Goa on Saturday, coal was not even mentioned as a particularly climate-damaging energy source.
For some emerging countries such as host India or the People’s Republic of China, the two most populous countries in the world, coal is still an important energy supplier. At the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, in May, the leading industrialized countries agreed to speed up the phase-out of fossil fuels that do not use emission reduction technologies.
The failure in Goa also contradicts the targets set at the UN climate conference to triple global renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030. Extreme weather events such as heat waves and floods all over the world are currently making it clear once again what dangerous consequences global warming is having.
According to current G20 leader India, some countries in Goa had argued that “different national circumstances” needed to be given more consideration when phasing out fossil fuels. In addition, there were differences regarding the technologies for reducing climate-damaging emissions when using energy sources such as oil and natural gas.
Habeck criticizes Russia
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), who attended the meeting, accused Russia of playing a destructive role in the negotiations. The deputy Russian energy minister demonstrated “a complete misjudgment of reality” and a “completely twisted world view” by describing the energy crisis as a result of the financial crisis in 2008, Habeck told ZDF.
Ed King from the climate communication network GSCC also accused Russia and Saudi Arabia of blocking Goa. The two major oil producers “blocked efforts to reach an agreement to triple clean energy,” King tweeted.
Alden Meyer of the climate think tank E3G said: “With daily temperature records around the world and the spiraling effects of climate change, the world should have heard a trumpet call to action from the G20 energy ministers.” Instead, little came out of the meeting.
Before the meeting, leading EU economies such as Germany and France, as well as some of the small island states particularly hard hit by climate change, called on the G20 to speed up the phase-out of fossil fuels and measures for climate-neutral economies.
“Humanity cannot afford delays,” they declared, calling for global greenhouse gas emissions to peak as early as 2025 and to be reduced by 43 percent by 2030 compared to 2019 levels.
Developing countries are demanding more support
However, some developing countries take the position that the rich industrialized countries, as historically responsible for climate change, should give poorer countries more financial support in restructuring their economies to make them more climate-friendly. They emphasize that the population in developing countries need low-cost, climate-friendly alternatives to fossil fuels.
India concluded in a report for the G20 deliberations that the global energy transition costs four trillion dollars (3.59 trillion euros) annually. The industrialized countries must therefore help poorer countries with the energy transition with cheap financing and technology transfer.
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