Leaders from the Group of 20 major economies say all countries need to take “meaningful and effective actions” to keep the global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
They wrapped up their two-day summit in the Italian capital of Rome on Sunday after adopting a leaders’ declaration.
The declaration apparently puts greater emphasis on the need to curb the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees than the Paris Agreement that was adopted in 2015.
The agreement aims to hold global warming to well below 2 degrees and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.
The declaration says the leaders acknowledge “the key relevance of achieving global net zero greenhouse gas emissions or carbon neutrality by or around mid-century.”
The leaders set no clear deadline for attaining carbon neutrality apparently because target dates vary from country to country. Japan and the United States are aiming to achieve neutrality by 2050, while China and Russia are also seeking to do so by 2060.
As concrete measures, the declaration says the leaders “will put an end to the provision of international public finance for new unabated coal power generation abroad by the end of 2021.”
It says leaders “recall and reaffirm the commitment made by developed countries, to the goal of mobilizing jointly USD 100 billion per year by 2020 and annually through 2025 to address the needs of developing countries.”
The G20 nations are estimated to account for 80 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions.
Many of the G20 leaders are scheduled to attend the UN COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland that began on Sunday.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who chaired the G20 summit, delivered a speech at the closing of the meeting. He underscored the importance of countries taking actions against climate change.
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