G20 in Rome salvages a minimum agreement on global warming ahead of COP26

G20 leaders in Rome today sealed their commitment to "strive" to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, although decarbonisation will be achieved "around the middle of the century", a vague formula that managed to close ranks but did not satisfy everyone.

"We are proud of the result, but it is a start," acknowledged the host Prime Minister, the Italian Mario Draghi, at the close of the meetings.

The summit ended with a lengthy Declaration in which the G20 set down in writing its determination for a "full and effective implementation" of the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The latter text aimed to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius and included the will to carry out "efforts" to limit it to 1.5, a goal that has been endorsed at the Rome summit, albeit half-heartedly.

The G20 heads of state or government have now agreed to take "mitigation, adaptation and finance" actions to that end in "this critical decade", albeit with an important nuance: "based on national circumstances".

Specifically, reflecting "the principle of shared responsibility" of each country and their respective and differentiated capabilities.

"We must now concentrate on getting it going as we will be judged by what we do, not by what we say. This summit has filled our words with substance," Draghi said to applause.

The Italian prime minister defended this result, given that until February the United States remained outside the Paris Agreement, at the will of former president Donald Trump.

Moreover, last July, the G20 ministerial meeting in Naples (south) on energy and the environment had failed in its attempt to bring China and India on board the 1.5 degree target for this century.

Reducing emissions is a thorny issue for the biggest and most polluting powers, as it implies a radical change in their production systems.

For this reason, in order to close ranks, the G20 did not end with a succession of concrete actions, nor with a clear commitment to decarbonisation by 2050, but rather with talk of "around mid-century", as countries such as Russia and China, the most populous on the planet, are asking for at least another ten years to achieve it.

What the G20 discussed was important because this forum, with Spain and the Netherlands as permanent guests, accounts for 80% of the world's wealth and 60% of the world's population. In other words, its actions make a difference in the climate battle.

Moreover, the Rome meeting had been presented as the prelude to the United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP26), which kicked off this Sunday in the British city of Glasgow.

For this reason, Prince Charles of England was invited to the Roman meeting, and he encouraged the international community to "put aside differences" and combat this threat from Glasgow: "This is the last chance to act", he warned the plenary.

UN Secretary General António Guterres said he was leaving Rome with his "hopes unfulfilled but not buried" and encouraged COP26 to "keep alive" the 1.5 degree agreement.

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, world leaders pledge to take further action over the course of this decade, but also to help the most vulnerable, poorest and therefore most at risk of climate disaster.

Knowing that changing the ecological transition costs money, they want to mobilise 100 billion dollars (about 86.5 billion euros) a year until 2025 to help them.

The US negotiators were particularly keen to bring more countries into the Global Methane Commitment, which the EU and the US are pushing for, but the G20 is "taking note" of initiatives to reduce methane emissions.

The Rome summit, which left the image of world leaders tossing a coin into the Trevi Fountain, was the scene of other agreements. The first was the adoption, after lengthy negotiations, of a global minimum tax on multinationals of 15% to balance the international tax system.

The Twenty also pledged to vaccinate 70% of the world's population against HIV/AIDS by 2022, by distributing drugs to the least prosperous countries.

In addition, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden ended the summit by celebrating the suspension of mutual steel and aluminium tariffs imposed under the Trump administration.