G20 makes significant progress on climate goals, says Mario Draghi

The leaders of the Group of top 20 economies made important progress in addressing the growing threat of global warming, the Italian prime minister said on Sunday, Mario Draghi, hailing the two-day summit as a success.

Draghi, acting president of the G20, told reporters that for the first time all member states had agreed on the importance of limiting global warming to the level of 1.5 degrees Celsius that scientists say is vital to avoid disaster.

He said the goal, as set out in the final communiqué, of achieving net zero carbon emissions by mid-century also marked a breakthrough compared to previous G20 commitments.

“We make sure that our dreams are not only alive, they are making progress,” Draghi said at a closing press conference, dismissing criticism from climate activists that the G20 had not gone far enough to try to resolve the issue. crisis.

“The G20 leaders They have made substantial commitments … It is easy to suggest difficult things. It is very, very difficult to execute them, “he added, assuring that he thought countries would continually improve their climate initiatives.

Charity Oxfam it was one of many groups that externalized their disappointment and called the Rome summit a “missed opportunity” full of “vague promises and platitudes” that failed to take the much-needed concrete action on the issue.

Draghi also dismissed suggestions that a group of countries, such as China and Russia, had undermined efforts to promote international cooperation on key issues.

“It was a good surprise. We saw countries that had been quite reluctant to move along the lines that we had suggested and pushed. And then they moved forward,” he said.

Most of the G20 leaders in Rome will now fly to a broader UN climate summit in Scotland, known as COP26.

“What happened is that COP26 will be built on a pretty solid foundation, compared to what it was before,” Draghi said. “We changed the language, the goal. Now 1.5 (degrees Celsius) is a universal agreement, before it was not. Carbon neutrality was agreed around 2050, without additional net emissions, before there was no commitment.”