The Group of 20 summit, which is scheduled for this weekend in Rome, will be the first in-person gathering of leaders of world’s largest economies since the COVID-19 pandemic began. It isn’t business as usual. This is especially true given that the United Nations will hold a larger summit on climate change in Glasgow, Scotland, as soon as this event ends.
The two-day G-20 meeting serves as a Roman preamble to the 12-day Glasgow summit. The climate dossier is front and center at the Nuvola (Cloud), convention center in the Fascist-era EUR neighbourhood of Rome.
A number of the participating prime ministers and presidents met in July at the COVID-focused Group of Seven summit. Some also passed each other in the U.N. halls last month during the General Assembly in New York. After nearly two years of virus-induced lockdowns, this will be the first time that leaders from countries accounting for 75% of global commerce and 60% of the population of the world will meet as a group.
Although economic recovery is the top priority, it is hoped that leaders from Italy will agree to a mid-century deadline for net-zero greenhouse gases emissions. They also need to explore a plan to reduce methane emissions.
Climate activists and the United Nations want the G-20 to keep their commitments to provide $100 billion per year in climate aid to poor countries to combat the effects of global warming.
G-20 members are responsible over 80% of global emission. “There is a responsibility for them to come together as a group and think about the promise that $100 billion per year in climate financing is not being fulfilled,” Renata Dwan (deputy director, Chatham House international affairs think tank) said.
What can be done if China is the No. What can be done if China’s leader, the world’s No. 1 carbon polluter and No.
President Xi Jinping, who hasn’t left China since the beginning of 2020, will be participating remotely. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also expected to attend. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is not coming, and Fumio Kishida, the Japanese Prime Minister has not confirmed his attendance due to a weekend-long national election.
Massimo Franco, international affairs columnist at Corriere della Sera, stated that the absence of Xi or Putin is a signal Europe should pay attention to.
Franco stated, “If China does not come to Rome, and if Russia, which has a lot to sell to Europe, doesn’t join G-20, then I think this G-20 will confirm European fragility from an energetic point of view.”
