G20 fin mins and central bankers fail to mention climate change

In contrast to their prepared text, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors included no mention of the challenges posed by climate change in the communiqué after their meeting in Baden-Baden on 18 March, writes Germanwatch. “Apparently, the new US government did not allow the mention of the global climate crisis in the consensus-based document,” the group writes in a statement. Germanwatch called on Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has pledged to use the German G20 presidency to focus on climate change, to come up with a strategy ensuring that climate protection will advance without the US. 

In its communiqué, the G20 said that it would aim to phase out “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption.” “We encourage all G20 countries which have not yet done so, to initiate as soon as feasible a peer review of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption,” the document stated.

Read the G20 communiqué in English here.

Read the GermanWatch statement in German here.