Environment officials from the Group of 20 leading nations are gathering on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali for talks to spur global climate action and other troubles that have worsened due to the war in Ukraine.
Implementing each G20 nation’s contribution and synchronising targets among developing and developed countries are to be discussed in the closed-door meetings, Indonesia’s environment minister Siti Nurbaya said before the one-day meeting.
She expects the meeting to produce a joint agreement with three priority issues – sustainable recovery, land-based and ocean-based climate action and resource mobilisation – towards realising the Paris Agreement, the first universal and legally binding commitment on climate change.
Supreme Audit Institutions 20 (SAI20) Summit is held on 29-30 August 2022 in Bali. The endorsement of the Rules of Procedures (RoP) and the agreement of the SAI20 Communique will take place at this meeting. #G20Indonesia #RecoverTogetherRecoverStronger pic.twitter.com/6E20hP1URh
— G20 Indonesia (@g20org) August 31, 2022
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Ms Nurbaya opened the meeting by urging fellow environment ministers to safeguard environmental multilateralism and to make it work, as it is the only way to effectively coordinate efforts to tackle global challenges.
“Environmental multilateralism is the only mechanism where all countries, regardless of their size and wealth, stand on equal footing and equal treatment,” Ms Nurbaya said.
“The voices of all countries, North and South, developed and developing, must be heard.”
Indonesia, the holder of this year’s G20 presidency, ratified the Paris Agreement in 2016. The country is committed to reducing emissions by 41 per cent with international assistance by 2030, or by 29 per cent independently.
G20 Digital Innovation Network (@G20DIN) will hold a 4-panel discussion as one of its series of events on 3-4 September 2022.
Panel 1: Perspective on the Future of Tech Industries from Indonesia's Early Unicorns
(cont)#G20Indonesia #RecoverTogetherRecoverStronger pic.twitter.com/PpzZ5vuCE0Advertisement— G20 Indonesia (@g20org) August 29, 2022
US climate envoy John Kerry was among 17 environment ministers and climate officials in addition to over 200 delegates who were attending the talks in person. Top officials from China, Russia and Argentina joined the meeting virtually.
In their closed-door meetings, the environment ministers are seeking for ways to increase efforts to control climate change and prevent a 1.5 degrees rise in global temperatures in line with the Paris Agreement and also searching for commitments from developed countries to fulfil their own climate pledges and climate financing for developing countries.
Russia’s war in Ukraine overshadowed the talks as countries raised its global environment impact.
Italy’s climate envoy Alessandro Modiano told delegates that the war was having grave consequences on the environment, on food and energy security, on the pandemic recovery efforts and the pursuit of sustainable development goals.
“I must therefore stress that my government consider crucial to have in this final text, a clear language that reflects the unjustifiable and unprovoked Russia war of aggression against Ukraine,” Mr Modiano said.
Commitments may be put to the test as the G20 environment ministers meet in the heavily-guarded Nusa Dua tourist haven to lay the groundwork for the leaders meeting in November in Bali, the mostly Hindu “island of the gods” in the majority Muslim archipelago nation.
In recent years, signs of climate change have become glaring, including in Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands.
Last year, Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency reported a total of 2,943 disasters, comprising 1,288 floods, 623 landslides and 677 tornadoes.
This week I returned to Viet Nam to progress work on our Just Energy Transition Partnership, and support the delivery of 🇻🇳’s ambitious #COP26 commitments
I also visited the Mekong Delta, to meet communities on the front line of the climate crisis
Watch the wrap up video👇 pic.twitter.com/h2qtUuvHvB— Alok Sharma (@AlokSharma_RDG) August 30, 2022
The agency said most disasters were classified as hydro-meteorological disasters and strongly influenced by climatic conditions. Environment watchdog Indonesian Forum for the Environment has predicted that hydro-meteorological disasters in Indonesia will increase 7 per cent this year.
Despite the worsening impact of climate change, financing for the coal industry continues to accelerate in Indonesia. Between 2014-2019, bank loans for coal-fired power plants alone reached $19.4 billion, involving a number of state-owned banks, according to government data.
South-east Asia’s largest economy is a key exporter of coal, palm oil and minerals amid a global shortage in commodities after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Coal exports increased to record levels in March after a brief ban on its shipments early this year to secure domestic supplies.
Members of the G20 account for about 80 per cent of the world’s economic output, two-thirds of the world’s population and an estimated 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
