Leaders of the Group of 20 countries met in Rome for two days to discuss strategies to combat climate change and a pandemic recovery, which has erected a rich-poor divide. With world leaders discussing several global issues, Climate change dominated their conference.
This was the first in person meeting of world leaders in two years. The key agendas of the meeting were climate change, the Covid pandemic, a landmark tax pact, and concerns about the global
economy.
Leaders agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, pledged action against toxic coal plants, but fell short of a zero-emissions objective.
India, on the other hand, has requested developed nations who have "reaped the benefits of energy" to accelerate their transition to net zero so that emerging economies can use
some "carbon space" to boost growth.
G20 Summit highlights
- During his speech at the first session of the G20 meeting on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised India's contribution to the fight against coronavirus infection.
- Mentioning India's objective of 'One Earth, One Health' for a collaborative approach in tackling the pandemic, PM Modi underlined India's medical supply to over 150 countries.
- India is ready to supply 5 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses by the end of 2022, which will be available to the rest of the globe.
- The G20 leaders agreed to strengthen the World Health Organization in order to speed up the process of obtaining emergency use authorization for Covid-19 vaccines.
- PM Modi encouraged the G20 to make India a partner in economic recovery and supply chain diversification.
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- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Mario Draghi on Saturday expressed their resolve to strengthen cooperation in the strategic sectors, including the cross-cutting issue of accelerating the clean energy transition to fight climate change.
- Energy and climate were at the heart of the G20 discussions. India and many other developing countries advocated to protect the interests of the developing world.
- G20 leaders had reached an agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.
- According to sources, the world's most advanced nations will stop financing "unabated" coal plants abroad by the end of the year.
The G20 will "put an end to the provision of international public finance for new unabated coal power generation overseas by the end of 2021," read a statement referring to fossil
fuels whose emissions have not been filtered.
- US President Joe Biden declared on Sunday that the US and the European Union had entered a "new era of transatlantic cooperation" after the parties agreed to resolve a dispute over steel and aluminium.
- Mr Modi met with a number of foreign leaders in Rome, including US Vice President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
- Joe Biden voiced displeasure that Russia and China "essentially did not show up in terms of any commitments to deal with climate change" in the G20 Summit.
- After attending the crucial G-20 summit and other bilaterals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for Glasgow on Sunday to attend the key 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP-26) and other meetings.