Climate change sticking point, Saudi differs on fossil fuel reference

The Sherpas of the G20 countries are in Manesar over the last three days, and their action will move to Delhi over the weekend for the leaders’ summit.

They are trying to come up with a joint communique in the next 48 hours, so that the leaders’ summit can produce a declaration.

So far, the Russia-Ukraine crisis has polarised the discussions between the G7 countries and Russia-China bloc.

But now in the last phase of the negotiations, the climate change paragraph has become a new point of debate and discussions among the Sherpas of the G20 countries.

While the Russia-Ukraine crisis has had a broad Global North vs Global South tinge to it, the debate on climate change paragraphs is not so neatly divided. It is more between the oil-producing countries vs the others; Saudi Arabia which is one of the major oil producing countries in the G20 is holding out on the paragraph.

While the exact language on the declaration is being debated between Sherpas in Manesar, the Bali declaration had said that they should “phase out and rationalize, over the medium term, inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption and commit to achieve this objective, while providing targeted support to the poorest and most vulnerable, and in line with national circumstances.”

Some of the developed countries want the paragraph to go beyond this and make a more pronounced commitment at the G20 communique.

There is a view in the negotiating room that granular details on the climate crisis agenda should be discussed and debated in the Conference of Parties (COP) meetings, and G20 is not the appropriate forum, but this issue has now become a hot-button issue at the G20 negotiations. The COP28 summit is scheduled to be held in Dubai in December 2023.

Right now, the G20 Sherpas and Sous-sherpas are trying to close all the paragraphs in all sectors, and their aim is to finalise the communique by Friday evening. But much negotiations remain on the Russia-Ukraine war, and that is expected to go down to the wire — till Sunday morning.

Despite the odds and the challenges, sources said the Indian G20 negotiators are hoping for a final communique based on consensus on all issues, including the Russia-Ukraine war and the climate change, and produce a Delhi declaration.