G20 Paris seeks to act beyond climate goals

Naples. Many members of the G20 want to go beyond the 2015 Paris Agreement agreements in the fight for climate protection. Italy’s Environment Minister Roberto Cingolani said at a news conference on Friday that it includes the US, the European Union, Japan and Canada. China, Russia and India, on the other hand, have ruled out a more rapid phase-out of coal use.

Paris Agreement six years ago

Six years ago in Paris, heads of state and government agreed that global temperatures should rise by no more than 2 °C and ideally no more than 1.5 °C by the end of the century. Scientists have said that unless drastic steps are taken to reduce emissions, both targets will be missed.

“That half a degree could make a huge difference in terms of glacier melt,” Singolani said in Naples, and other climate change-related events. In any case, all G20 members will at least agree to meet the Paris goals. “There is no country that questions the Paris Agreement,” he said.

Some countries are “more cautious” when agreeing on targets

Most of the countries at the conference also supported the goal of rapidly reducing coal use, according to the minister. However, China, Russia and India are “more cautious” in agreeing more ambitious targets. “For these countries it means questioning an economic model,” Singolani said.

The UN Climate Conference in Scotland in November will showcase the specific commitments countries are making in the fight against climate change. The heads of state and government of the G20 countries will be given the opportunity to resolve their disputed issues at a meeting in Rome at the end of October.

Singolani said floods in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands were also discussed in Naples. All expressed their condolences to the representatives of the respective countries. The Minister said that such natural calamities have also changed the awareness at the political level.