Rome, Oct. 31, 2021 (AFP) – The leaders of the 20 main economies of the planet, responsible for 80% of polluting gas emissions, are discussing, this Sunday (31), in Rome, the fight against climate change, among calls to send a clear message a few hours before the start of COP26 in Glasgow.
Three sources close to the talks told AFP that the G20 countries have reached an agreement on a target of limiting global warming to 1.5 ° C above pre-industrial levels.
Sources said negotiators agreed with this level, which is higher than the 2015 Paris Agreement, which called for keeping warming below 2 ° C and, to the extent possible, 1. 5 ° C.
“We are faced with a simple choice: we can act now or regret it later,” said Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who considered that the measures taken since the Paris agreement were “insufficient”.
If, the day before, the G20 showed its ability to reach a consensus on the most thorny issues, such as a global tax on companies, climate ambitions remain weak.
“The time has come to do the maximum in Rome so that the members of the G20 can make a useful contribution to Glasgow,” French President Emmanuel Macron told Le Journal du Dimanche, specifying, however, that before a COP, “nothing is wrong. is decided in advance “.
The COP, organized by the UN, is the annual meeting to debate and define commitments in the fight against climate change. And the Glasgow meeting, which runs until November 12, is all the more important given that there was no meeting in 2020 because of the pandemic.
The agenda of the ministerial conference has four main themes and is so complex that negotiations will begin this Sunday, without waiting for the major speeches of some 130 heads of state and government, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
Emphasis is therefore placed on the final declaration of the G20, the negotiation of which is even more difficult in the absence of leaders from countries such as China, Russia, Japan or Mexico, who participate by videoconference.
China is heavily dependent on coal, a highly polluting fossil fuel, to run its power plants in times of an energy crisis, but it showed signs of change by pledging in September to stop building coal-fired power plants. foreigner.
“Climate change cannot be denied. And climate action cannot be postponed. By working with our partners, we must face this global crisis with urgency and ambition,” tweeted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Discussions focus on the specific features to be given to the measures to achieve the 1.5 ° C target, such as the deadline to be set to achieve carbon neutrality.
And the main obstacle to the negotiations is the end of the financing of coal-fired power stations and the use of this fossil energy, underlined a source in the French presidency.
“The G20 must make a special commitment to stop the construction of new coal-fired power stations from this year and to end the fossil fuel subsidy from 2025”, urged Friederike Röder, vice-president of the NGO Global Citizen.
For the second day of the meeting, Prince of Wales Charles, a guest at the summit, told leaders they have an “overwhelming responsibility” to future generations.
The last G20 press conference, chaired by the head of the Italian government, is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. (12:15 p.m. EDT). Then most of the rulers in Rome will head to the Scottish city.
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