G20 Summit: Rio statement echoes New Delhi declaration on climate financing

G20 leaders call for ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, peace in Ukraine

The 19th G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro concluded with a call for scaling up climate finance and expanding renewable energy, but specifics on achieving these goals were sparse. The summit also pushed for immediate ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, and advocated for a comprehensive peace in Ukraine.

 

The Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration, unveiled on Tuesday, made an appeal to treble global renewable energy capacity and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements. These targets, it noted, should be pursued through “existing targets and policies”. While reiterating the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration’s call to scale up climate finance from “billions to trillions from all sources,” the latest joint statement lacked a concrete roadmap to meet this transformative ambition.  

Despite repeated emphasis on a “just transition” across sectors, the declaration conspicuously avoided mentioning a “transition away from fossil fuels”. The 2023 meeting in New Delhi had estimated that $4 trillion in annual low-cost financing was required for a climate transition. Yet, the Brazil summit offered no progress on critical issues like setting a timeline to phase out fossil fuel use or curbing hydrocarbon investments.  

The declaration painted a bleak picture of progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), noting that only 17 per cent are on track with just six years left to meet the 2030 Agenda.  

Progress on one-third of the goals has either stalled or regressed.  

On geopolitical tensions, G20 leaders expressed distress at “the immense human suffering and the adverse impact of wars and conflicts around the world”, reaffirming their national positions and UN resolutions. The declaration called for a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, reiterating support for a two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.  

Regarding the war in Ukraine, the grouping advocated for a “comprehensive, just, and durable peace,” while underscoring the global ripple effects of the conflict on food security, energy stability, supply chains, and inflation. Notably, the G20 refrained from assigning blame to any nation for the ongoing hostilities.  

European diplomats had pushed to revisit the previously agreed language on global conflicts, but they ultimately relented. 

As host of this year's G20 meetings, Brazil expanded the group’s focus on extreme poverty and hunger, while introducing debate on cooperation to fairly tax the world's wealthiest -- topics also highlighted in the leaders' joint statement. The call for a possible tax on global billionaires would affect about 3,000 people around the world.