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US blocking mention of climate change in G20 statement, diplomats say

'Climate is the last sticking point in the communique. There is still no agreement'

Oliver O'Connell

New York

Saturday 22 February 2020 21:44 GMT

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Trump denies need for climate action at G20 summit in Japan

G20 diplomats say the US is against mentioning climate change in the communique of the world’s financial leaders.

A new draft of the joint statement shows the G20 considering including it as a risk factor to growth.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s 20 largest economies are discussing the main challenges to the global economy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this weekend.

G20 sources told Reuters that the US was reluctant to accept language on climate change as a risk to the economy.

The US is represented at the meeting by treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

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1/20Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

California

In this decade, humans have become ever more aware of climate change. Calls for leaders to act echo around the globe as the signs of a changing climate become ever more difficult to ignore

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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Athens, Greece

Fierce wildfires have flared up in numerous countries. The damage being caused is unprecedented: 103 people were killed in wildfires last year in California, one of the places best prepared, best equipped to fight such blazes in the world

AFP/Getty

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Redding, California

Entire towns have been razed. The towns of Redding and Paradise in California were all but eliminated in the 2018 season

AP

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Athens, Greece

While wildfires in Greece (pictured), Australia, Indonesia and many other countries have wrought chaos to infrastructure, economies and cost lives

AFP/Getty

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Carlisle, England

In Britain, flooding has become commonplace. Extreme downpours in Carlisle in the winter of 2015 saw the previous record flood level being eclipsed by two feet

AFP/Getty

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Hebden Bridge, England

Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire has flooded repeatedly in the past decade, with the worst coming on Christmas Day 2015. Toby Smith of Climate Visuals, an organisation focused on improving how climate change is depicted in the media, says: "Extreme weather and flooding, has and will become more frequent due to climate change. An increase in the severity and distribution of press images, reports and media coverage across the nation has localised the issue. It has raised our emotions, perception and personalised the effects and hazards of climate change."

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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Somerset, England

Out west in Somerset, floods in 2013 led to entire villages being cut off and isolated for weeks

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Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Dumfries, Scotland

"In summer 2012, intense rain flooded over 8000 properties. In 2013, storms and coastal surges combined catastrophically with elevated sea levels whilst December 2015, was the wettest month ever recorded. Major flooding events continued through the decade with the UK government declaring flooding as one of the nation's major threats in 2017," says Mr Smith of Climate Visuals

Getty

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

London, England

Weather has been more extreme in Britain in recent years. The 'Beast from the East' which arrived in February 2018 brought extraordinarily cold temperatures and high snowfall. Central London (pictured), where the city bustle tends to mean that snow doesn't even settle, was covered in inches of snow for day

PA

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

London, England

Months after the cold snap, a heatwave struck Britain, rendering the normally plush green of England's parks in Summer a parched brown for weeks

AFP/Getty

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

New South Wales, Australia

Worsening droughts in many countries have been disastrous for crop yields and have threatened livestock. In Australia, where a brutal drought persisted for months last year, farmers have suffered from mental health problems because of the threat to their livelihood

Reuters

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Tonle Sap, Cambodia

Even dedicated climate skeptic Jeremy Clarkson has come to recognise the threat of climate change after visiting the Tonle Sap lake system in Cambodia. Over a million people rely on the water of Tonle Sap for work and sustinence but, as Mr Clarkson witnessed, a drought has severley depleted the water level

Carlo Frem/Amazon

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

In reaction to these harbingers of climate obliteration, some humans have taken measures to counter the impending disaster. Ethiopia recently planted a reported 350 million trees in a single day

AFP/Getty

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Morocco

Morocco has undertaken the most ambitious solar power scheme in the world, recently completing a solar plant the size of San Francisco

AFP/Getty

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

London, England

Electric cars are taking off as a viable alternative to fossil fuel burning vehicles and major cities across the world are adding charging points to accomodate

AFP/Getty

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Purmerend, The Netherlands

Cities around the world are embracing cycling too, as a clean (and healthy) mode of transport. The Netherlands continues to lead the way with bikes far outnumbering people

Jeroen Much/Andras Schuh

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Xiamen, China

Cycling infrastructure is taking over cities the world over, in the hope of reducing society's dependency on polluting vehicles

Ma Weiwei

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Chennai, India

Despite positive steps being taken, humans continue to have a wildly adverse effect on the climate. There have been numerous major oil spills this decade, the most notable being the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010

AFP/Getty

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

Amazon rainforest, Brazil

More recently, large swathes of the Amazon rainforest were set alight by people to clear land for agriculture

AFP/Getty

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

California

This decade may have seen horrors but it has led to an understanding that the next decade must see change if human life is to continue

Getty

One diplomat says that usually China blocks the mention of climate change as well as the US, but as they are represented at a lower level in this meeting, it is mainly the US holding things up.

"Climate is the last sticking point in the communique. There is still no agreement," a second source familiar with the negotiations said.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrives for a welcome dinner at Saudi Arabia Murabba Palace, during the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Riyadh. (REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri)

In November, Donald Trump began the process of withdrawing the US from the Paris climate accord. This would make the US the only country in the world to not be included in the agreement.

President Trump dismissed the need for action on climate change at the last G20 summit in Japan in June 2019.

The actual focus of this G20 meeting is global growth outlook and new rules concerning the taxation of global digital companies.

The G20 expects a modest pick-up in global growth this year and next, but noted downside risks to this outlook stemming from "geopolitical and remaining trade tensions and policy uncertainty and macroeconomic risk related to environmental sustainability".

The latest draft communique gives less prominence to the outbreak of the coronavirus as a growth risk, saying only the G20 would "enhance global risk monitoring, including the recent outbreak of COVID-19".

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