EDITORIAL ANALYSIS : At Delhi summit, demonstrate climate leadership

Source: The Hindu

• Prelims: Current events of international importance, G20, Global south, Inflation etc.
• Mains GS Paper II & III: Significance of G20 countries, Bilateral, regional and global grouping and agreements involving India or affecting India’s interests.

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS

• The G-20 summit in New Delhi (September 9-10) is a crucial moment to show leadership ahead of the UN Secretary General’s Climate Ambition Summit and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP28.

INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE

Context

G20:

• The G20 is an informal group:19 countries and the European Union, with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
• The G20 Presidency rotates annually: according to a system that ensures a regional balance over time.
• For the selection of the presidency: 19 countries are divided into 5 groups, each having no more than 4 countries.
  • The presidency rotates between each group.
• Every year the G20 selects a country from another group to be president.
  • India is in Group 2 which also has Russia, South Africa, and Turkey.
• The G20 does not have a permanent secretariat or Headquarters.

Recent steps by G20 members:

• G-20 members have shown a degree of commitment to shift towards clean energy:
  • Renewable energy sources provided 29% of their energy mix in 2021, an increase from 19% in 2010.
• The G-20 members emit most of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and produce the bulk of its fossil fuels.
  • Most members have pledged to be “net-zero”, cutting back on emissions and fossil fuel use.

Areas G20 need to focus on:

• At the national and local levels: G-20 countries need to improve their governance processes for just energy transitions.
• Governments should establish clear governance structures to ensure that the transition process is inclusive and the results equitable, and avoid siloed working.
  • This includes
    • Clarifying responsibilities
    • mandates between ministries and across government levels with the goal of having coherent delivery plans that can attract investment.
  • Progress indicators should go beyond the traditional ones such as net job creation, diversity of manufacturing and regional economic growth to include metrics on the kinds of jobs created
    • who has access to them, and levels of broader community resilience and innovation.
  • Depending on the country’s context: G-20 countries could establish a multi-ministerial task force or joint working groups between government and non-government actors to coordinate energy transition efforts.
    • For example, South Africa has developed a just transition framework that was led by the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC).
    • Other G-20 members can accelerate their own just energy transitions by developing concrete frameworks, road maps, or action plans.
  • As the Indian G-20 presidency has acknowledged: The G-20 should see this transition as a way to diversify G-20 member economies to ensure
    • long-term economic stability
    • livelihoods
    • public revenue streams.
  • International financial institutions can align their investments and risk-taking to rapidly deploy vast amounts of renewable energy and grid infrastructure
    • They can target support to energy efficiency and very low-carbon industrial technologies.
    • For example, the global increase in demand for and production of green steel necessitates the immediate transition to low carbon steel production pathways.
  • The G-20 countries, representing 90% of global steel production and 80% of consumption, have a pivotal role in advancing global low-carbon steel production.
  • By setting clear mandates for international financial institutions, such as multilateral development banks and international climate finance
    • They can drive investments in green steel transitions within developing and emerging economies.
  • A collective commitment by the G-20 to Green Public Procurement would accelerate the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors such as steel and cement.
  • Collaboration within and among G-20 nations is necessary for effective and ambitious reform in public purchasing.
  • Governments must implement effective monitoring
    • Create clear mandates for low-carbon procurement
    • Upskill” procurement officers
    • Set time-bound targets to harness the full potential of Green Public Procurement.
  • The G-20 should take a lead in streamlining international efforts to achieve just energy transitions.
    • These efforts will be aided by radically improved transparency and accountability
    • For example by setting up disclosure mechanisms on energy transitions-related data through existing mechanisms such as:
      • G-20 Energy Transitions and Sustainable Finance Working Groups
      • The Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JET-Ps).
    • The G-20 should also encourage fossil-fuel producing countries
      • To provide current, comparable and reliable information about their plants
      • Projects for oil, gas and coal production
      • How these align with international as well as national climate goals.

India’s G20 agenda:

• Green growth
• Digital transition and sustainable progress (for which this author has coined the acronym GDP)
• Reinforces how this could truly be a “People’s G20”
• Transform forum for international economic cooperation into a forum for people-to-people cooperation.

Way Forward

• It is time for the G-20 to act as a united group that drives its own collective climate ambition through collaboration, coordination and competition.
• The race to deploy clean energy for all, to decarbonise industry and to achieve a just and inclusive transition cannot be run alone.
  • By taking a lead in these three action areas, the G-20 can ensure this is a relay race that is won together — not at the expense of some countries and communities.
• The outcome document of July’s G-20 Energy Transition Ministers’ meeting called for “Just, Affordable, and Inclusive Energy Transition Pathways”.
  • But for countries to get onto such pathways, the G-20 must act together, collaborating and coordinating steps to achieve net-zero ambitions, while competing to achieve them.
• The G-20 summit in New Delhi is a crucial moment for the Heads of State and Government present at the meeting to adopt a strong leader’s declaration
  • Committing to collective ambition to combat climate change.

QUESTION FOR PRACTICE

The long sustained image of India as a leader of the oppressed and marginalized nations has disappeared on account of its new found role in the emerging global order.’ Elaborate(UPSC 2019) (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)