United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Sunday that his government will provide U$ 2 billion to the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
India is hosting the G20 summit from 9-10 in New Delhi.
The announcement is the biggest single funding commitment the UK has made to help the world tackle climate change, which was established by 194 countries following the Copenhagen Accord at COP15.
“Uplift makes a significant contribution towards the UK’s pledge to spend 11.6bn Pounds on international climate finance, cementing our global climate leadership. UK continues to show global climate leadership, having cut emissions faster than any other G7 country,” said a release by the British High Commission.
US President Joe Biden on Saturday said , “At a moment when the global economy is suffering from the overlapping shocks of the climate crisis, fragility, and conflict, this year’s Summit proved that the G20 can still drive solutions to our most pressing issues.”
The G20 leaders pn Saturday adopted a consensus declaration in New Delhi that avoided condemning Russia for its special military operation in Ukraine but highlighted the human suffering the conflict had caused and called on all states not to use force to grab territory.
“Everything was reflected in a balanced form,” Svetlana Lukash, the Russian G20 sherpa, or government negotiator, was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Interfax.
“All members of the G20 have agreed to act as one in the interests of peace, security and conflict resolution around the world.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters the declaration “does a very good job of standing up for the principle that states cannot use force to seek territorial acquisition or to violate the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of other states”.
The section on the Ukraine conflict was spread over seven paragraphs in the Delhi declaration compared to two paragraphs in the one in Bali.
But it was carefully crafted as it did the diplomatic tightrope-walk in the language between the Russia-China bloc and the West, led by the G7.
It neither mentioned Russian “aggression” nor did it “condemn” the Russians for the war in Ukraine.
Instead, it carefully navigated the Russia-Ukraine war with India leading negotiations with help from Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia.
Help from these three countries from the Global South is said to have been key to the breakthrough.
Under the subhead, “For the Planet, People, Peace and Prosperity”, the communique started with, “We note with deep concern the immense human suffering and the adverse impact of wars and conflicts around the world.” This was a very acceptable paragraph for all sides.
