In 2024, the G20 summit and the UNFCCC COP29 coincided, and had the global community trying to focus on two places at the same time: Rio de Janeiro and Baku. At F20 we divided our work between both processes, advocating for climate action and the implementation of the SDGs under Brazil’s G20 presidency throughout the year and bridging that work with the COP29 process in Baku. With both the G20 Leaders’ Declaration published and the COP29 negotiations concluded, we at F20 are embracing this opportunity to take stock of the outcomes and commitments made this year.
F20 understands the G20 as a long-term process and a working space for our advocacy to influence the increased ambition for climate action. The countries of the G20 account for 77% of global emissions and 85% of the global economy. Their role and influence in guiding the global community towards the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree limit through mobilising climate finance is profound.
In the beginning of 2024, we developed our recommendations for the G20 under the Brazilian presidency, which guided our work throughout the year. Through convenings, campaigns and bilateral meetings we pushed for these recommendations in numerous different occasions and fora. As a steering group member for the C20 Working Group 9 for Philanthropy and Sustainable Development we also engaged in the official G20 process, contributing to a more general set of recommendations for philanthropy.
In this analytical article, we are looking at the key questions of: What is missing in the G20 Leaders’ Declaration? Where did G20 and COP29 influence each other? Where did the multilateral processes fall short? What can we build on for the next year?
As the Brazilian G20 presidency is coming to an end, the G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration published on 18 November 2024 has made it clear that Brazil’s goals for its presidency were to be ambitious, holistic, and inclusive. In the declaration, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development have been prioritised and are supported by innovative approaches to economic policy.
Speaking about the ambition of the Brazilian G20 Presidency, Maria Netto, the Brazilian chair of the F20 Steering Group and Executive Director of The Institute for Climate and Society, says,
“The Institute for Climate and Society (iCS) considers that, under Brazil’s presidency, the G20 has achieved very positive results. The iCS sees the reference to taxing the super-wealthy, creating work roadmaps, and reforming international financial mechanisms, as well as the relevance of rich countries’ supporting developing economies, as guidelines for future climate finance discussions.
As Brazil hands over the G20 presidency to South Africa, it maintains the responsibility of seeking consensus so as to reduce tensions among developed and developing countries, using its BRICs and COP30 presidencies to leverage actions that may lead to the implementation of the Paris Agreement while promoting economic development and reducing inequality.”
Katrin Harvey, F20’s Secretary General, also supports the steps Brazil has taken to usher in a more just climate future:
“Brazil’s leadership has proved to be critical for serious climate protection, climate finance mobilisation in the form of revolutionary plans to reform taxation and global governance systems, and pioneering steps towards eliminating hunger and poverty. The Brazilian presidency has demonstrated impressive ambition to better integrate the work of the G20 into the UN system, and to ensure clearer and more actionable climate targets which leave no one behind. F20 applauds that each of these steps works towards global and intersectional climate and social justice.”
Prioritising climate finance
We’re heartened to see the G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration feature a wide-ranging and ambitious focus on finance, from the inclusion of wealth taxation to MDB reform. The G20 Leaders’ Summit’s finance outcomes including the G20 Roadmap towards better, bigger and more effective MDBs, the Rio de Janeiro G20 Ministerial Declaration on International Tax Cooperation, and the Tropical Forest Finance Facility (TFFF) are significant steps in the right direction. This reflects some of the key recommendations F20 has been pushing throughout 2024, including the need for a comprehensive debt relief and tax reform.
Although there is certainly space to increase the ambition of these plans, they do signal a genuine commitment to scale climate finance up rapidly and substantially to the tune of trillions, recognised as necessary by the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration and the COP29 focus on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). We are disappointed that the COP29 outcomes, published on 24 November 2024, fall far short of the funding necessary to support climate protection, adaptation, and mitigation globally. While arriving at a global consensus on outcomes including the NCQG, Article 6, and the Loss and Damage Fund is a significant indicator of the ongoing strength of multilateralism, there is urgent need for G20 countries in particular to be prepared to deliver impressive climate action at COP30.
The commitments agreed upon at the UNFCCC negotiations must translate into swift action if we are to reap their benefits. This includes much stronger commitments toward financing global climate action through financing mechanisms that are sizable, accessible, have concrete steps for financial flows and funding targets that are crystal clear regarding who pays how much by what time and in what way – all while ensuring a just international partnership that doesn’t forget about the common but differentiated responsibilities of all parties.
Added to this, the G20’s Sustainable Finance Roadmap and the 2024 G20 Sustainable Finance Report’s consensus are clear indications that the G20 recognises the urgent need to mobilize finance to mitigate climate crisis impacts. G20 countries are uniquely positioned to act on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with only 17% of targets currently on track. The G20 2023 Action Plan on Accelerating Progress on the SDGs is crucial. F20 advocates for the integration of SDGs in climate action. We remain hopeful that with the South African presidency in 2025, the inclusion of community resilience and integration will have a more central role. Raisa Cole, the South African co-chair of the F20 Steering Group, says,
“Looking ahead to South Africa’s G20 Presidency, it has become clear that inclusive access to climate finance and delivering a robust and inclusive financial framework are essential to accelerating the global energy transition and address loss and damage and. I’m happy to see so many of South Africa’s priorities in the G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration, among them critical minerals, reform of the global financial architecture, and food security.”
A holistic view of climate action
We see the launch of the G20 Initiative on Bioeconomy (GIB) and Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty as hugely positive steps towards implementing the 2030 Agenda. These two successes are very much aligned with F20’s focus on revitalizing agriculture for biodiversity, climate stability and food security as well as integrating equity into food systems in our 2024 advocacy work – notably, these topics took centre stage during the 2024 Climate Solutions Forum in Rio de Janeiro among other global convenings.
The Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration is an ambitious text but should have been stronger in its representation of gender inclusivity from an intersectional perspective. Similarly, COP29’s gender actions fell short of expectations, especially regarding intersectionality much like the G20 Leader’s Declaration. We know that all people who identify as women and girls are among those disproportionately affected by the climate crisis and are prominent on the front lines of climate action. We hope that the G20 Empowerment of Women Working Group will advance this focus into 2025 and beyond, including the successful finalization of an intersectional Gender Action Plan at COP30 in Belém.
While it is encouraging to see that G20 leaders are committed to a phase out of fossil fuel subsidies, we also call for a stronger commitment from G20 leaders to a quicker, more effective phase out of fossil fuels in general. The Task Force on a Global Mobilization against Climate Change (TF-CLIMA) established by Brazil’s G20 Presidency has developed a comprehensive report to address this, outlining how the global community can accelerate global commitments to clean, sustainable, just, affordable and inclusive energy transitions. We remain hopeful that the work and recommendations of TF-CLIMA will be addressed by the South African presidency in 2025, especially given the topic of the just energy transition will most likely be a key priority for 2025. F20 will continue to voice its concerns and connect members across borders to discuss solutions and ways forward.
The G20 have reaffirmed their support to developing countries for industrialisation, to ensure inclusion and sustainable development, and understand the need for access to financial solutions to support green industrialization. However, as outlined in F20’s recommendations, improvements to the type of support and access pathways to it, as well as clearer definitions of green industrialisation and decarbonisation, would be beneficial. Approaching this issue holistically, we also very much welcome the G20 commitment to halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030 and for an ambitious, fair and transparent legally binding instrument on plastic pollution based on a comprehensive approach in line with the UNEA resolution 5/14.
The G20 leaders were clear in their declaration regarding “the need for urgent action to scale up, prioritize and mainstream whole-of society and whole-of-economy adaptation”. And yet, we will continue to reinforce the need for enhanced, concrete and scaled up policy and finance solutions for adaptation needs, especially for countries and communities in the Global South. These communities were largely deprioritised in COP29’s outcomes and are understandably disheartened, which is why F20 insists on the centralisation of the Global South in climate action. The flow of climate finance, from the Global North to the Global South, is urgently needed to support global emissions reduction and climate change mitigation and adaptation. We must remember and act on our global promise to ‘leave no-one behind’.
Moving forward
Looking forward to the 2025 South African G20 Presidency, which will be the first G20 summit hosted on the continent, F20 is encouraged by President Ramaphosa’s indication for a continuation of the G20 Social Summit. This powerful and inclusive initiative provided non-government stakeholders a unique opportunity to voice their views on fundamental issues of the international agenda. Discussions about climate action and policy must be inclusive and shine a spotlight on future generations, who will ultimately inherit the impacts of our climate action – and inaction – in equal measure.
As a philanthropic community, we clearly have our work cut out for us. We need to work together to show up with solutions, encourage ambitious leadership and advocate jointly for the implementation of the SDGs as well as the Paris Climate Agreement. At F20, we will work tirelessly to push within the G20 space to deliver on our key concerns. If we look at the recommendations we set out with in the beginning of the year, there are certainly success stories to share like the strong promotion of a just energy transition, the strong commitments for biodiversity and food security, as well as a global agreement for a necessary and actionable reform of the international financial architecture. Yet, let’s keep a close eye on the other big questions that urgently need to be solved, like an actionable globe partnership for climate adaptation or clear pathways for industrial decarbonisation.
Considering the scope of the COP29 and G20 outcomes and the urgency required to act, philanthropic organisations, foundations, and civil society organisations must be emboldened to be more active and dynamic in taking action as well as advocating for stronger leadership from governments. The sources of climate finance clearly need to be broader, more determined, and must centre people first, which philanthropy is uniquely placed to make possible. Ambitious and aspirational cooperation across all levels of society is needed to address the most pressing issue of our time, and we know that philanthropy is an essential part of the solution.