(Buenos Aires, 17 of september 2018) Responsible for nearly 80% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, G20 countries have a crucial role and collective responsibility in fighting climate change that is harmful to human wellbeing. To advance the goals and address the challenges presented in the 2017 G20 Climate and Energy Action Plan for Growth, the 2018 IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C, the latest UNEP gap report, and the IEA status report on global energy and CO2 emissions (IEA, 2017), G20 signatory countries must take the lead in implementing the Paris Agreement (PA). To do so, G20 signatory governments should support the UNFCCC in developing an effective Paris rulebook, setting more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that are sufficient to reach the climate goals set forth in the
Paris Agreement, especially those laid out in Article 2.

Business, Civil Society and Think Tanks expect G20 countries to adopt the following provisions to climate change, thereby promoting sustainable development and economic growth through bold climate action and collaboration.

First, G20 countries must recognize the vulnerability of economies, ecosystems, people, and  societies to environmental changes caused by human activity and take action to address the climate resilience gap of G20 and partner countries through fiscal and other policy measures. Enhance and implement the work program to build climate resilience with year-on-year monitoring and reporting of progress made; the situation in vulnerable developing countries, especially SIDS and LDCs, must be improved through financial flows and sharing of technical knowledge and technology.

Second, G20 countries should commit to mainstream climate resilience in national infrastructure policies and plans and share country practices on implementation by establishing system-scale geospatial planning guidelines that meet strict environmental and social development criteria that are assessed through a social and economic, inclusive, climate resilient and gender-responsive lens. Digital transformation should also be at the center of any approach aiming at developing resilient infrastructure as innovation is key to advance with sustainable solutions.

Third, by 2020, G20 countries should back up their national efforts with ambitious long-term strategies (LTS) in line with 1.5° C and net-zero GHG emissions that are concrete and transparent. As active representatives and non-state actors, we recommend that G20 countries develop inclusive national dialogues with key stakeholders to share experiences and best practices with the goal of promoting transparency, innovative solutions, collaboration, and effective implementation. In this context, in line with the long-term goal of the PA, just transitions towards a clean future require implementing carbon mitigation strategies feasible for, and adaptable to, specific regional energy matrices.

Fourth, G20 countries should work closely with subnational and local governments and recognize the role of urban areas as leading actors in climate action. Most of the SDGs and NDCs are to be implemented in urban areas, and swifter decision-making, financial support, government planning, and coordination with local stakeholders are needed to take the necessary actions to mitigate climate change; metropolitan governance mechanisms to promote and manage resilience more effectively should strongly be incentivized. The G20 should also encourage the development of a new ecologically-based urban model to tackle climate change. Such a model is compact in its morphology, complex in its organization, metabolically efficient and socially cohesive.

Fifth, in order to align international climate finance flows with the effective implementation of nationally determined contributions and long-term low-greenhouse gas emission development strategies, the G20 should enable financial markets to deliver on sustainable development and further expand the work of the G20 Green Finance Study Group under the finance track. To mobilize additional private-sector capital at the required scale , the G20 should promote viable financial mechanisms to foster investment opportunities and develop project pipelines, allowing support mechanisms for SMEs to overcome financial gaps and access to climate finance.

Sixth, the G20 should support an intergovernmental pricing platform that provides a basis for global discussion on carbon-pricing mechanisms, enable members to share best practices, and use carbon-pricing revenues to advance efficiency programs. These factors are essential to direct infrastructure investments toward low-carbon and energy-efficient technologies. The G20 should share best practices for the redistribution of the savings from fossil fuel subsidies reforms to ensure a just transition that benefits all.

Finally, it is of utmost importance to proactively engage with all stakeholders and citizens, as appropriate, to steer a process of a just transition to advance an accelerated, worker and community-oriented, resilient transition towards a sustainable and climate compatible future. For this G20 countries must commit to adopt and facilitate low-carbon development strategies, nationally determined contributions and climate plans that take into account the imperatives of a Just Transition of the workforce, human and labor rights and the creation of decent work and quality jobs, at the appropriate governmental level (national, regional and sub-regional) within the respective capacities and in accordance with nationally defined development priorities.

About B20

The B20 is comprised of business associations and leads engagement with G20 governments on behalf of the international business community. It was the first engagement group of the G20, created in 2010 under the Canadian presidency, and it was the first to be formally recognized by the group. http://www.b20argentina.info/ 

About C20

Civil 20 (C20) is one of the seven Engagement Groups of the G20. It is characterized as a specific space through which civil society organizations from different parts of the world can contribute in a structured and sustained manner to the G20, thus ensuring that world leaders listen not only to the voices representing the governmental and business sectors, but also to the proposals and demands of civil society as a whole. The objective of this Engagement Group is to generate spaces to discuss and build, through transparent and inclusive processes, high-level policy papers to be presented to the G20 in order to influence it. https://civil-20.org/about-c20/

About T20

The T20 is one of the G20’s engagement groups, where representatives of different civil society stakeholders take their demands and propos – als to G20 countries. It gathers think tanks and leading experts from around the world to produce concrete policy recommendations.
During 2018 the T20 is co-chaired by the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI) and the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth (CIPPEC). https://t20argentina.org