The recent G20 summit held in Naples, Italy, was seen as a decisive step ahead of the COP 26, to be held in Glasgow in November 2021. The failure to agree common language ahead of that gathering is likely to be seen as a setback to hopes of securing a meaningful accord in Scotland.

In a meeting with the Ministers of Environment and Energy of the G20 nations, the UN Executive Secretary for Climate Change, Patricia Espinosa, asked countries to provide the necessary leadership to achieve the central goal of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which is to hold the global average temperature rise to as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Considering that the G20 was founded with the objective of achieving global economic stability and sustainable growth, the minister highlighted: “Climate change is, without exception, detrimental to that objective. Therefore, it is in the best interest of all G20 nations to harness their collective diversity to build consensus and work with a unity of purpose to address the most important challenge standing in the way of that goal.”

Only 97 countries have submitted updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), which are national climate action plans under the Paris Agreement – less than half of all signatory countries of the Paris Agreement.

On the other hand, Italy’s Ecological Transition Minister, Roberto Cingolani, said that during the summit they failed to reach an agreement on the wording of the key commitments on climate change. The two points in dispute during the meetings were: the phase out coal power (which most countries wanted to achieve by 2025, but some said it would be impossible for them), and concerns on the wording surrounding 1.5-2 degree Celsius limit on global temperature increases that was set by the 2015 Paris Agreement. Despite two points of disagreement, Cingolani said the G20 had put together a 58-point communique and that all the countries agreed that decarbonisation was a necessary goal.

Referring to the upcoming Conference COP26 in November, the UN Climate Change Chief urged governments to achieve consensus in areas where differences persist, including Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, transparency of climate action and capacity building for the development of countries. “Each of these problems must be resolved in order to fully implement the Paris Agreement. We have been working for five years to implement the agreement. Our time is over. (…) I ask you to come to COP26 determined to be successful” he said.

Before COP 26, it was expected the G20 meeting to lead to a strengthening of climate goals, new commitments on climate finance, and an increase in countries committing to net zero emissions by 2050.

The urgency of climate action has been made clear by deadly floods in Europe, fires in the United States and sweltering temperatures in Siberia, but countries remain at odds over how to introduce costly policies to reduce global warming.