Category Archives: G20

Cop26 summit at serious risk of failure, says Boris Johnson

Posted on by

UK PM says climate crisis talks at G20 over weekend only ‘inched forward’

The Cop26 climate summit is at serious risk of failure because countries are still not promising enough to restrict global temperature rises to below 1.5C, Boris Johnson has warned.

In a blunt admission after two days of preliminary talks at the G20 meeting of world leaders, the prime minister conceded little progress had been made – and the conference is not on track to achieve a deal that keeps the goal alive. He put the chances of success as “six out of 10”.

Continue reading...

Scott Morrison to use final G20 remarks to defend climate policy ahead of Cop26

Posted on by

PM says Australia has cut emissions by ‘more than most of the countries sitting around this table’

Scott Morrison will use his final remarks at the G20 summit in Rome to declare climate finance must focus on adaptation and “empowerment”, not just on emissions reduction.

Australia’s prime minister will also push back at coordinated global efforts to phase out fossil fuels.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Australia news live update: international border reopens as those stranded set to return home; Morrison doubles down on Aukus deal

Posted on by

International border bans are set to end on Monday with Australians able to leave the country and return home; Scott Morrison defends the Aukus deal at G20 in Rome. Follow all the day’s news live

Minister for energy and emissions reduction Angus Taylor will be speaking on ABC Insiders this morning.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is currently in Glasgow today for the UN’s climate change conference, Cop26. Australia has international faced pressure to ramp up its action on climate change. As such, over the last few weeks, Morrison and Taylor raced to secure Nationals party room support for a target of net zero emissions by 2050.

Continue reading...

France and UK told: end dispute or you’ll wreck Cop26 summit

Posted on by

Scientists and experts in despair over fishing row, as prime minister declares summit will be ‘world’s moment of truth’

Leading scientists and environmentalists called on Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron to declare an immediate ceasefire in a bitter Anglo-French row over fishing rights on Saturday as fears grew that the UK’s arguments with its EU neighbours could overshadow the crucial Cop26 summit on climate change.

On the eve of the UK hosting 120 world leaders at the meeting in Glasgow, the prime minister said the summit would be “the world’s moment of truth” and could mark “the beginning of the end of climate change”. Speaking at a meeting of G20 leaders in Rome, he added: “The question everyone is asking is whether we seize this moment or let it slip away.”

Continue reading...

Xi Jinping calls for mutual Covid vaccine approvals

Posted on by

Speaking to the G20 summit by video, China’s president stresses vaccine cooperation and economic stability

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has called for mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccines based on the World Health Organization’s emergency use list, according to a transcript of his remarks delivered to leaders of the Group of 20 leaders’ summit, published by the official Xinhua news agency.

Speaking to the participants in Rome via video link, Xi said China had provided more than 1.6bn Covid shots to the world, and was working with 16 nations to cooperate on manufacturing doses.

Continue reading...

G20 leaders to endorse Biden proposal for global minimum corporate tax

Posted on by

Leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies will endorse a US proposal for a global minimum corporate tax of 15%, draft conclusions of the two-day G20 summit in Rome showed on Saturday.

The G20 plans to have the rules in force in 2023.

Continue reading...

Cop26 failure could mean mass migration and food shortages, says Boris Johnson

Posted on by

Ahead of G20 meeting, PM warns of ‘difficult geopolitical events’ echoing those that ended Roman empire

A failure by world leaders to commit to tackling the climate emergency at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow could prompt “very difficult geopolitical events” including mass migration and global competition for food and water, Boris Johnson has said.

Speaking before the start of a gathering of leaders from the G20 industrialised nations in Rome, where he will push for countries to arrive in Glasgow with fixed plans to cut emissions, Johnson said the chances of success hung in the balance.

Continue reading...

‘If we don’t act now it will be too late’, warns Johnson ahead of Cop26

Posted on by

Prime minister says ‘too many countries doing too little’ amid last-minute talks before summit

World leaders have been warned that Cop26 must “mark the beginning of the end of climate change” amid last-minute talks that could help determine the future of the planet.

With the long-awaited environmental summit due to start on Monday, Boris Johnson issued his plea while saying “too many countries are still doing too little”.

Continue reading...

Prince Harry and Meghan appeal to G20 to keep Covid vaccine donation pledges

Posted on by

Prince Harry and Meghan join WHO in urging leaders to honour promises to help low-income countries

Prince Harry and Meghan have joined the World Health Organization (WHO) and Save the Children in appealing to G20 leaders meeting this weekend to honour promises to send Covid-19 vaccines to low-income countries where just 3% of people have had a jab.

It is one of the most directly political initiatives at a high-profile political summit by the former royal couple since they left the British royal household.

Continue reading...

Biden gives Pope Francis sentimental coin and calls him ‘warrior for peace’ – video

Posted on by

Joe Biden held an unusually long meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican and gifted him a 'command coin' sometimes awarded to soldiers and leaders. 'You are the most significant warrior for peace I've ever met,' the US president told the pope. Citing what he said was a tradition linked to the coin, he joked: 'Next time I see you, if you don't have it, you have to buy the drinks'

Continue reading...

Biden tells France the US was ‘clumsy’ in its handling of Aukus deal – video

Posted on by

Joe Biden tried to repair his personal and political relationship with Emmanuel Macron by acknowledging that the announcement of a security and technology pact that blindsided France was a 'clumsy' episode handled with a lack of grace. The US president and his French counterpart met at France’s Vatican embassy in Rome on Friday, before the G20 leaders’ summit this weekend, for their first in-person discussion since Macron was left feeling betrayed and humiliated by September’s security deal

Continue reading...

Biden admits to Macron the US was ‘clumsy’ in Aukus submarine deal

Posted on by

American president moves to repair relationship after France was blindsided by security pact

Joe Biden has moved to repair his damaged personal and political relationship with Emmanuel Macron by acknowledging that the announcement of a security and technology pact that blindsided France was a “clumsy” episode handled with a lack of grace.

Continue reading...

Global activists gather at Rome G20 to demand tougher action on China

Posted on by

Beijing must not be let off hook over human rights abuses in return for climate cooperation, say legislators

Legislators from around the world have gathered on the fringes of the G20 summit in Rome to protest against the presence of the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, and urge leaders not to let China off the hook over human rights abuses in return for Beijing’s cooperation on the climate crisis.

Many of those at the Rome counter-meeting have been banned from travelling to China as punishment for campaigning against Chinese repression in Xinjiang.

Continue reading...

Gordon Brown urges rich countries to airlift surplus Covid vaccines to world’s poorest

Posted on by

Ex-UK PM and almost 200 global figures write to G20 summit host calling for 240m vaccines to be shared

Gordon Brown has called on the British government and other G20 countries to urgently arrange a military airlift of surplus Covid vaccines to poorer countries before they expire, saying it is their “moral responsibility” to do so.

The former prime minister has organised a letter from more than 160 former world leaders and global figures calling for richer countries to send 240m vaccines stored in the US, Europe and Canada to countries struggling to vaccinate their populations.

Continue reading...

Wealthy nations urged to meet $100bn climate finance goal

Posted on by

Countries must close gap on funding target for developing countries says European Commission president

The European Commission president has urged wealthy countries to close the gap to meet a $100bn annual climate finance target for developing nations a year earlier than expected.

Speaking before crucial meetings on the climate emergency at the G20, and at the UN Cop26 talks, the president, Ursula von der Leyen, said rich countries had “to try harder” to close the shortfall in climate finance.

Continue reading...

Call for action on TB as deaths rise for first time in decade

Posted on by

Tuberculosis campaigners tell G20 leaders $1bn is needed annually for vaccine research to reverse decades of underfunding

A group of tuberculosis survivors are calling for more funding and action to find new vaccines, after the numbers dying of the infection rose for the first time in 10 years.

In 2020, 1.5 million were killed by TB and 10 million infected, according to the World Health Organization. Campaigners want world leaders to invest $1bn (£730m) every year into vaccine research, spurred on by the momentum from the Covid jab development.

Continue reading...

Gordon Brown urges emergency Covid vaccine airlift to Africa

Posted on by

Former UK prime minister says operation could be under way within days if world leaders signed off

More than 100,000 lives can be saved in Africa by undertaking the emergency airlift of 240m unused vaccines in the next fortnight, Gordon Brown has urged.

The former prime minister called on a group of rich nations to back “the biggest peacetime public policy decision” by supporting an October airlift that would see unused vaccines handed to parts of the global south struggling the most.

Continue reading...

Afghanistan ‘at make-or-break point’ says UN as G20 ministers meet

Posted on by

Leaders will discuss UN proposal to channel funds to Afghanistan to ease growing humanitarian catastrophe

G20 leaders and ministers will meet by video conference on Tuesday to discuss a United Nations proposal to channel funds to Afghanistan to ease its worsening humanitarian catastrophe.

It will be the first time the world’s richest nations have met to discuss the consequences of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover on 15 August. Afghanistan was 75%-dependent on foreign aid before the takeover, and funds held overseas have been frozen by the US.

Continue reading...

IMF to issue downbeat outlook as spectre of stagflation looms

Posted on by

Fund set for a gloomy annual meeting as supply chain issues and inflationary pressures hobble global recovery

Weaker global growth, vaccine protectionism and the spectre of 1970s-style inflation haunting large economies. As the International Monetary Fund prepares for its annual gathering this week, the contrast with the spring could not be more stark.

Back in April, at the Washington-based fund’s last virtual bash, there were sharp upgrades for global growth amid a sense of optimism for the road ahead, led by stronger-than-expected recoveries in the US, UK and other advanced economies. Vaccines would pave the way for the swift unlocking of pandemic restrictions, fuelling a rapid recovery from the worst global recession since the 1930s Great Depression.

Continue reading...

Humans ‘pushing Earth close to tipping point’, say most in G20

Posted on by

Global survey finds 74% also want climate crises and protecting nature prioritised over jobs and profit

Three-quarters of people in the world’s wealthiest nations believe humanity is pushing the planet towards a dangerous tipping point and support a shift of priorities away from economic profit, according to a global survey.

The Ipsos Mori survey for the Global Commons Alliance (GCA) also found a majority (58%) were very concerned or extremely concerned about the state of the planet.

Continue reading...