Brazil scores modest wins in G20 declaration

Market: Emissions
19/11/24

Brazil scored some wins in the final 85-point joint statement issued by G20 leaders, but overall gains were modest.

Brazil, which held the G20 presidency this year, managed to include all of its goals in the final G20 joint statement: a global pact to address hunger, changes to global governance, a call for comprehensive cease-fires in Gaza and Lebanon and reaffirming support for Paris Agreement climate goals.

But Brazil's goals were too bold for the G20 leaders, according to Friederike Roder, vice-president of global policy and advocacy for Global Citizen, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) focused on tackling climate change, poverty and inequality. "Brazil brought its A-game. The G20 just couldn't keep up."

The final joint statement includes "meaningful progress" on topics such as taxing the ultra-rich, but the rest of the G20 "failed to rise to the occasion," Roder added.

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva addressed G20 leaders on Monday, saying that a 2pc tax on the super-rich could generate $250bn/yr to tackle social and climate issues. The G20 leaders agreed to "seek to engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed," but did not draw any specifics.

The biggest miss came in new collective quantified goal (NCQG) negotiations, Roder said. "G20 members have passed the buck yet again, leaving others to clean up the mess."

G20 leaders pledged to commit to any successful NCQG negotiations at the UN Cop 29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. But those have stalled, summit president Mukhtar Babayev said.

The joint statement will put pressure on negotiations in Baku, according to Viviana Santiago, the executive director of Oxfam Brasil, an NGO focused on economical, social, environmental and political justice. "This progress on international taxation also means that G20 governments must be champions of a $5 trillion climate finance target at Cop 29," Santiago said. "How can they argue that climate justice is unaffordable when a deal to raise trillions of dollars through taxation of the super-rich is on the table?"

G20 leaders have sent a "clear message to their negotiators at Cop 29: to not leave Baku without a successful new finance goal," UN climate body UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell said.

The G20 summit continues today, with talks focused on the energy transition. Brazil will then pass on the G20 presidency to South Africa.

By Lucas Parolin

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