The energy ministers of the G20 countries met this Saturday in India without reaching an agreement on a timetable to progressively reduce the use of fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal).
Justifying the impasse, India, which presides over the G20 (the 19 largest economies in the world and the European Union) until November, explained that some of the members wanted “a continuous reduction of fossil fuels” and not supported by carbon capture or storage devices “according to different national circumstances.”
Other members of the G20, according to the Indian presidency, “have a different opinion on whether carbon capture and storage technologies respond to these needs.”
In the end, the Goa meeting statement doesn’t even mention coal, a big contributor to global warming but also a major source of energy for countries like India, the world’s most populous, and China, the world’s second-largest economy.
The lack of agreement within the G20 comes two months after the leaders of the G7 (Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom) expressed their willingness to accelerate the abandonment of fossil fuels.
A coalition of 18 countries led by the Marshall Islands called on Friday for “an urgent exit from fossil fuels.”
However, many developing countries believe that rich countries, the biggest polluters, should finance the energy transition more.
Source: TSF
