Statement on Argentina taking over the G20 Presidency in 2018

30 November 2017

G20 countries must show climate leadership by signalling their intent to enhance ambition as they prepare to assess progress on their national climate plans under the 2018 Talanoa Dialogue and revise their emission reduction targets by 2020.

30 November 2017: As Argentina officially takes over the reigns of the 2018 G20 Presidency today, civil society calls on the Argentine Presidency to facilitate ambitious commitments from the world’s most powerful economies to tackle climate change. The G20 countries must lead in enhancing climate action and strengthening ambition while pursuing a development model that is in line with the Paris Agreement goals.  
In July 2017, 19 of the 20 G20 leaders demonstrated their support to act on climate change when they signed onto the Climate and Energy Action Plan for Growth at the G20 summit in Hamburg. The Argentine Presidency must strengthen and build on this existing framework and work towards its effective implementation through 2018 and in the run up to the heads of state summit on 30 November 2018.

“The adoption of the Climate and Energy Action Plan by the G19 in July this year was a clear indication that the world’s largest economies are well aware that action is urgently needed to make the zero-carbon transition happen. The G20 under the Argentinian presidency must move from commitment to action, by raising the level of ambition of the Paris pledges, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies by 2020 and providing support to those most vulnerable to climate change impacts.”

“In 2017, the G20 affirmed a near-universal commitment to the Paris Agreement. In 2018, the G20 must turn toward delivering the Paris promise by expressing countries’ alignment in understanding climate action as a core component of modern prosperity. Provinces, states, cities, business, investors, and culture-shaping institutions look for political institutions like the G20 to affirm the global direction of travel, which is mainstreaming climate action and the low-carbon transition,” said Maeve McLynn, finance and subsidies policy coordinator at Climate Action Network Europe.

As a leader among emerging economies and a country committed to the Paris Agreement, Argentina must leverage progress on climate action by promoting a development model that is compatible with the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement by phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. A failure to rapidly shift to a zero-emissions growth trajectory can exacerbate poverty, increase food insecurity and render adaptation efforts impossible in the years to come. Climate action is an opportunity to usher in a transformational change for a prosperous and resilient future for everyone.

“It’s now up to Argentina to implement the G20 commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, after the previous host, Germany, failed to confront their own fossil fuel subsidies through the G20 process this November. To support the Paris Agreement, the G20 must advance efforts to stop funding fossils and start a real conversation of a managed decline of the fossil fuel industry in line with climate science. We are calling on the Argentinian presidency to demonstrate that they are serious about climate action,” said Alex Doukas, Stop Funding Fossils Program Director at Oil Change International.

 

ith COP23 announcing the Talanoa Dialogue in 2018, the next year is a critical one as countries must permanently tip the scale towards faster action and stronger ambition when they assess their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). They must signal an intent in 2018 to step up and enhance ambition by 2020 in their revised NDCs, to keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“As the G20 Summit is being held just days ahead of the UN climate talks in 2018 in Poland, all eyes will be on the Argentinian-led G20 summit to see that world leaders send a powerful signal that they intend to step up and come prepared to commit to enhanced ambition following a collective assessment of their progress under the Talanoa Dialogue in COP24,” said Gillian Nelson, Policy Coordinator, Climate Action Network 

The G7 Presidency is being led by Canada in 2018 and must also set a high bar for climate leadership.
Canada has a critical role in supporting the Argentine G20 Presidency to deliver strong outcomes on climate, including progress on the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies. Canada’s upcoming G7 Presidency is a moment where the country’s positive rhetoric on climate action and multilateral convening power must be funnelled into concrete and measurable climate leadership within the international sphere,” said Catherine Abreu, Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada.

About Climate Action Network:
Climate Action Network (CAN) is a global network of over 1200 NGOs working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. www.climatenetwork.org 
For more information, contact Dharini Parthasarathy, Communications Coordinator, Policy, CAN International; email: dparthasarathy@climatenetwork.org, or whatsapp/call on +918826107830