The G20 summit provides new opportunities to take greater action on climate change
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A report this week reveals G20 nations are financing the fossil fuel industry at nearly four times the rate they are funding clean energy. This poses great problems for upholding the Paris Climate Deal, of which keeping global temperatures to below 2 degrees by 2020 was a breakthrough agreement.
A report from Oil Change International’s Alex Doukas, revealed that the fossil fuel industry is being financed by the G20 nations to the tune of $72 billion every year. This is on top of the domestic financial subsidies governments provide to companies for the production of oil, gas and coal. The money is being used to support the fossil fuel industry on an international scale, effectively undermining serious efforts to tackle climate change. It appears the worst offenders are: Japan, China, South Korea followed by the USA and Germany.
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Funding for clean energy stands at $20 billion a year. The biggest financial backers of clean energy are surprisingly Japan and China. The report seemingly contradicts China’s leadership to cut carbon emissions. However, it only covers the fiscal years 203-2015, omitting China’s recent growing contributions in funding clean energy. Furthermore, the China backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank recently announced no coal projects are in the pipeline. This has been supported by vice-president Thierry de Longuemar stating, the bank will not finance coal-fired power plants.
SOURCE energydesk.greenpeace.org
China has pledged to decrease its reliance on coal by ensuring 15 percent of its energy from clean energy sources including renewables, nuclear and hydropower. It also promises to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. The country is well on its way in achieving its targets. However, China’s policies are insufficient to deal with the threat of climate change on its own.
Whilst the USA has abdicated the leading role it can play in the fight against climate change by asserting it will not be adhering to the terms laid out in the deal, this has not deterred countries including Germany from reaffirming their commitment to tackling climate change. The report has rightly urged the slashing of fossil fuel dependence to minimal if not zero carbon emissions
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