NEW DELHI: Environment ministers from G20 nations have convened in India for an urgent meeting to address the global climate crisis. The one-day conference in Chennai aims to achieve a last-minute consensus on critical climate issues, including climate change adaption finance, mitigation, and peaking emissions by 2025. However, with hectic negotiations continuing late into Thursday, no major breakthrough is expected.
The agreements reached during the conference will be signed by the leaders of G20 nations, representing over 80 percent of the global GDP and CO2 emissions, during a summit scheduled for this September in New Delhi.
This gathering comes on the heels of criticism aimed at the group’s energy ministers for failing to agree on a roadmap to cut fossil fuels from the global energy mix, dealing a blow to efforts in climate change mitigation. Climate experts have attributed record global temperatures to severe weather events like floods, storms, and heatwaves.
The urgency of the situation was emphasized by Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister, who warned on Thursday in Chennai, “Given the scale of the triple global crises, climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, we truly have no time left to waste.”
Impacts of Climate Change
The impacts of climate change were further highlighted by raging wildfires in Greece and a heatwave in Italy. EU Commissioner for the Environment, Virginijus Sinkevicius, stressed the growing evidence of devastating climate impact on the ground, with people’s livelihoods being destroyed.
The conference in Chennai saw most delegations led by their respective environment and climate change ministers. The US delegation was headed by Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry. Emirati Sultan Al Jaber also attended the meeting. He is set to lead the upcoming COP28 talks.
In a joint statement on Thursday, Al Jaber and UN climate change chief Simon Stiell called for global leaders to unite, act, and deliver on climate commitments, emphasizing the need to support those affected by climate change immediately.
However, progress within the G20 has been slow due to geopolitical tensions, with Russia’s war in Ukraine contributing to polarization. Additionally, sharp divisions between the West and developing countries on key issues, such as financing the transition and addressing its immediate impact, have hindered collective action.
