Climate crisis takes centre stage as G20 summit opens in Brazil

RFI

18 November 2024 at 1:15 am·1-min read

Brazil's president Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva and UN Secretary General Antionio Guterrès pictured ahead of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday 18 November 2024.

Diplomatic tensions over global warming will take centre stage at the G20 summit that opens in Brazil on Monday, as leaders of the world's 20 major economies hope to break the deadlock over climate finance at UN talks in Azerbaijan.

Heads of state who arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday for the G20 summit will spend Monday and Tuesday addressing issues from poverty and hunger to the reform of global institutions.

However, the ongoing UN Cop29 climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan have thrown a spotlight on their efforts to tackle global warming.

While the Cop29 summit is tasked with agreeing a goal to mobilise hundreds of billions of dollars for the climate, leaders of the Group of 20 major economies half a world away in Rio are holding the purse strings.

G20 countries account for 85 percent of the world's economy and are the largest contributors to multilateral development banks helping to steer climate finance.

They are also responsible for more than three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

G20 'must lead'

"All countries must do their part. But the G20 must lead," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told Cop29 last week.

"They are the largest emitters, with the greatest capacities and responsibilities."

Reaching such an accord may only get tougher with the return to power of US President-elect Donald Trump, who is reportedly preparing to again pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord.

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G20 'must lead'

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