No G20 consensus on cutting fossil fuel emissions

G20 energy ministers failed to reach a consensus on cutting fossil fuel emissions, at the G20 Energy Transitions Ministerial Meeting in the western Indian state of Goa late last week.

The meeting, which lasted over 19-22 July, failed to produce a joint communique. An outcome document and chair summary were instead issued on 22 July.

The final release was altered compared to an earlier unreleased draft seen by Argus.

"…The importance of making efforts towards [the phasedown] of unabated fossil fuels, in line with different national circumstances was emphasised," the chair's summary of the unreleased draft had said.

But the final document included concerns some members expressed about cutting emissions: "…The importance of making efforts towards [the phasedown] of unabated fossil fuels, in line with different national circumstances was emphasised by some members while others had different views on the matter that abatement and removal technologies will address such concerns."

Other language also appeared to have been altered in the final chair's summary, possibly to reflect a lack of consensus. For example, "The G20 notes that accelerated deployment of zero and low-emission technologies including renewables play an important role in achieving energy transitions," which was part of the unreleased draft, was changed to "It was noted that accelerated deployment of zero and low-emission technologies including renewables play an important role in achieving energy transitions."

The draft "acknowledged" the "major contribution" of the energy sector to greenhouse gas emissions, but the final chair summary said the sector's contribution to emissions was "significant".

India's power and renewable energy minister RK Singh acknowledged a lack of consensus on some issues. "We had agreement on 22 out of 29 paragraphs, while seven paragraphs were the chair's summary," Singh said at a press conference following the meeting, on 22 July.

Some G20 members wanted to focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS), the minister said. "Some countries felt that instead of a ‘phasedown' (of fossils), there were also options of carbon capture and storage" Singh said. "But the larger part of G20 was for ‘phasedown'…" the minister said.

The final document did not reveal the names of the G20 member countries that expressed concerns, but Singh said a "couple of countries in the Middle East" feel CCS would be a more appropriate option for decarbonisation.

The G20 also agreed on adopting "low carbon" emissions technologies. "We stress upon expediting the voluntary transfer on mutually agreed terms, and/or co-development and adoption of clean, sustainable and low carbon/emission energy technologies," the outcome document said. Singh said there was no problem with the language as long as the emitted CO2 is captured in the form of sequestration.

Lack of consensus on renewable capacity

There also appeared to be a lack of consensus on tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030, as well as on developed countries pledging $100bn/yr from 2020-25 to help mitigate emissions. Both paragraphs remained part of the chair's summary in the unreleased draft as well as the final document.

The outcome document as well as the chair's summary are the basis for discussions at the Cop 28 summit in Dubai, Singh said. "If this (meeting) had not been so successful, then the next COP would have been very difficult," the minister said.

India has pledged for renewables to comprise 50pc of its total power generation capacity by 2030, as well as cutting the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45pc, at the Cop 26 summit in Glasgow in 2021. India has already achieved a 43pc renewables mix as of May, power ministry data show.

The country had earlier also committed to net zero emissions by 2070.

By Pranav Joshi