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With climate diplomats nowhere near a deal on climate financing at COP29 in Baku, the United Nations is urging leaders of the G20 alliance to come up with their own agreement at their meeting this week in Brazil.
“Climate impacts are already ripping shreds out of every G20 economy, wrecking lives, pummelling supply chains and food prices, and fanning inflation,” warned UN climate chief Simon Stiel. “Without rapid cuts in emissions, no G20 economy will be spared from climate-driven economic carnage.”
The G20 accounts for about 85% of the global economy and around 75% of emissions; when it comes to climate financing, the South China Morning Post wrote, they are perceived as “holding the purse strings,” particularly over funding for developing countries to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
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The re-election of US President Donald Trump is already causing concern among the international community that other countries may feel more emboldened to cease meaningful climate progress regardless of any agreements. Argentina’s populist President Javier Milei has reportedly threatened to block a G20 joint communique because of objections over taxes on the super-rich and gender equality initiatives, according to the Financial Times.
“We’re all supposed to sit there and talk about the future of global co-operation and pretend that there’s not this guy on his way [to the White House] who couldn’t care less,” one European official told the publication. “It’s hard to see how anything decided [here] has much of a future.”