The energy ministers of the G20 countries, meeting in India on Saturday, failed to agree on a timetable for gradually reducing the use of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.
The final declaration, published at the end of the meeting in Goa, did not even mention coal, despite it being one of the major contributors to global warming.
But coal is also one of the main sources of energy for many developing economies, including India, the world’s most populous country, and China, the world’s second-largest economy.
This failure to reach an agreement comes despite the desire expressed in May in Hiroshima by G7 leaders to “accelerate” their “exit” from fossil fuels. The impasse comes at a time when global temperatures are hitting record highs, causing heatwaves, floods and wildfires.
G20 chairs India explained that some of the members wanted a "reduction in fossil fuels to be unabated" – not backed by carbon capture or storage devices, "in line with different national circumstances."
While "others have a different view on whether carbon capture and storage technologies meet these needs."
A coalition of eighteen countries, including France and Germany, led by the Marshall Islands, last Friday called for "an urgent exit from fossil fuels" and "a peak in greenhouse gases by 2025," arguing that "humanity cannot afford to wait."
This coalition is calling for a 43% reduction in global emissions by 2030 compared with 2019, in order to comply with the 1.5°C limit, as calculated by UN climate experts.
But many developing countries believe that rich countries, the biggest polluters, should finance the energy transition more.
