Consensual G20 communiqué “should be the aspiration” – German gov’t official

Despite the outcome of last week’s G7 summit in Taormina, Italy, a consensual statement by all leaders “should be the aspiration” for the G20 summit in Germany in July, said Lars-Hendrik Röller, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s economic advisor and the government’s G7 and G20 sherpa, at the T20 summit in Berlin. Asked whether it is “still the G20, or is it the ‘G19 plus one’”, Röller replied: “Of course, what normally has happened in these G20s – in terms of the communiqué, which is only one output – is that we had a consensual statement. And that should be the aspiration also this year”. Last week’s G7 communiqué includes a section on climate, in which all members except the United States “reaffirm their strong commitment to swiftly implement the Paris Agreement”. They acknowledge that the US administration has yet to decide on its climate policy – an unprecedented development in G7 history.

Watch the video of the T20 summit in English here.

For background, read the CLEW article Germany, China urge US to remain in climate agreement and the CLEW factsheet The story of "Climate Chancellor" Angela Merkel.