'We are running out of time': G20 Summit closes with mixed messages for COP26

Campaigners have slammed leaders of the world's most developed nations for delivering a "weak" agreement on climate at this weekend's G20 Summit in Rome, arguing that leaders must now significantly ramp up their climate plans at the crucial talks taking place over the next two weeks in Glasgow. But some analysts suggested the meeting provided a boost for the upcoming fortnight of negotiations in Glasgow, arguing that the leaders of the world's leading economies sent a clear signal that they plan to accelerate climate action over the coming decade.

Following a two-day summit held this weekend in Rome, the G20 nations announced a collective pledge to achieve carbon neutrality "by or around mid-century" and formally endorsed the Paris Agreement's more stretching temperature limit of 1.5C as a common goal.

To this end, the nations pledged to "take further" action this decade to "formulate, implement, update and enhance, where necessary, our 2030 NDCs [national climate plans]". They said they would establish 'Long-Term Strategies' that set out "clear and predictable pathways" that balance efforts to cut greenhouse emissions with schemes that remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

The agreement was widely seen as a boost to hopes that COP26 could deliver an agreement that would see nations strengthen their NDCs more frequently than the current timetable of five yearly updates.

In the communique posted at the close of the G20 Summit this afternoon, the influential nations also for the first time acknowledged the "significant contribution" of methane emissions to rising temperatures, and pledged to take action to "significantly" reduce releases of the powerful greenhouse gas.

However, environmental campaigners broadly slammed the document, arguing that while the stronger language around targets and ambition was welcome, the so-called 'Rome Declaration' falls short on detail and fails to set out concrete plans for how countries practically aim to meet their enhanced ambitions.

While the communique does commit leaders to ending the finance of new, unabated coal plants overseas by the end of this year, the deal stops short of committing to a phase out of coal power in their own nations - a move that does not bode well for the UK's stated goal of making COP26 the moment when coal power is "consigned to history".

Critics also expressed disappointment that G20 leaders failed to set out plans to increase their support to developing nations most exposed to climate change. While event host Italy did announce it would nearly triple its climate finance commitment to $1.4bn annually for the next five years, the G20 did not set out any further collective plans on this front. The communique reiterates that richer nations now intend to deliver their $100bn climate commitment "no later than 2023" - a full three years after the initial deadline agreed in 2009.

Jennifer Morgan, executive director at Greenpeace International, said leaders had "failed to meet the moment", arguing the "weak" communique did not bode well for the upcoming UN climate talks. "If the G20 was a dress rehearsal for COP26, then world leaders fluffed their lines," she said.

"Now they move onto Glasgow where there is still a chance to seize a historic opportunity, but the likes of Australia and Saudi Arabia need to be marginalised, while rich countries need to finally grasp that the key to unlock COP26 is trust," she added.

Oxfam's senior advisor Jörn Kalinski said the communique was characterised by "vague promises and platitudes", arguing that "half-hearted words" on financing adaptation in vulnerable countries had not been backed up by timeframes or targets.

"Confirming the 1.5C goal of the Paris Agreement was a minimum requirement," he said. "Without a promise to revise their lacklustre national climate plans to be in line with this goal, it is meaningless. The planet is on fire, and we are running out of time. It is now critical that COP26 agrees to send all countries back to the drawing board to scale up their climate plans immediately, and not in five years' time."

Kalinski pointed out that the G20's pledge to cap warming at 1.5C was at odds with leaders reticence to commit to a phase out of coal power.

"One of the few positives is the promise to stop financing new coal power plants overseas by the end of this year," he said. "But it is disappointing that there was not a similar announcement on domestic coal power and on phasing out other fossil fuels altogether with rich nations taking a lead. This means that climate-killing coal power plants can be built for another ten years, which is incompatible with the goal of limiting warming to 1.5C."

UN chief António Guterres tweeted that he was leaving Rome with his "hopes unfulfilled" but not buried, expressing hope that action on finance and adaptation would yet be delivered at COP26.

While I welcome the #G20's recommitment to global solutions, I leave Rome with my hopes unfulfilled — but at least they are not buried. Onwards to #COP26 in Glasgow to keep the goal of 1.5 degrees alive and to implement promises on finance and adaptation for people & planet. pic.twitter.com/c1nhIDbA8m

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) October 31, 2021

In related news, the US and EU today announced plans to broker a new steel and aluminium trade deal by 2024 that would amount to the "world's first carbon-based sectoral arrangement" for the carbon intensive industries.

In a statement, the White House said the deal marked "a global first in the fight against climate change and countering distortive economic practices that harm our interests". Under the terms of the arrangement, the partners will work together to block "dirty" steel from entering their markets.

The deal - which marks the end of a trade dispute between the EU and US that dates to the Trump era - is "open to any interested country", provided that parties met certain criteria around reducing trade in high-carbon steel and products, according to the White House.

The developments came as the COP26 Climate Summit officially started in Glasgow, with Alok Sharma formally taking over as Summit President.

In an early success for the talks, diplomats swiftly agreed the agenda for the negotiations, clearing a technical hurdle that has stalled the start of previous UN Climate Summits.

The Summit received a further boost as Israel became the latest economy to announce a net zero target and New Zealand submitted an updated national action plan promising to halve emissions by 2030. However, campaigners and diplomats continued to warn that the various national decarbonisation plans submitted to date are still well short of what is required to put the world on track to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.