Climate protection activists on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, criticised the G20 group over failed efforts to stop and address global warming.
Oxfam climate expert, Jan Kowalzig, said: “Even after the G20 summit, the world continues to slide towards uncontrollable catastrophic warming that is already exacerbating poverty, hunger and injustice worldwide.”
“The G20 summit provides only weak impulses to prevent global warming,” he added.
According to Kowalzig, the G20 states are responsible for 80 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions and there was no progress on their “inadequate” climate protection goals.
He said the states shifted away from climate-damaging fossil fuels and the expansion of renewable energies.
“The G20 group is also not making any decisive progress on the long-promised reduction of subsidies for fossil fuels, thus further prolonging the fatal dependencies on coal, oil and gas,” the expert added.
In a draft of the final summit declaration seen by dpa, the G20 member states “welcome” extended and new national climate action.
The draft called on all parties “to urgently scale up” the reduction of emissions, the adaptation to the consequences of climate change as well as “means of implementation,” among other things.
Ekkehard Forberg of World Vision said promises must also be implemented adding that “such affirmations are no longer enough.’’
Forberg, referring to the draft declaration said to achieve this, the G20 countries would have to provide financial support, but that hadn’t happened. “Essentially, all that remains of this summit are lukewarm words.’’
Friederike Röder of Global Citizen, another advocacy group, said the Bali declaration was “basically a copy of what was decided (at the G20 summit) in Rome in 2021.’’
Röder added that it was intolerable that there is no reference to the urgently needed phase-out of fossil fuels.
“How credible is it when they just repeat old promises year after year without making any real progress?’’
