G20 leaders fail to agree on climate, Ukraine

The leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations failed to break a deadlock in UN climate talks at a summit dominated by ­divergences over the Ukraine war and Donald Trump’s impending ­return to the White House.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, speaks with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro. Picture: AFP

The leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations failed to break a deadlock in UN climate talks at a summit that was dominated by ­divergences over the Ukraine war and Donald Trump’s impending ­return to the White House.

Before the meeting, the UN had implored the G20 leaders to rescue stalled climate talks in Azerbaijan by boosting funding for developing countries struggling with global warming.

G20 members, who are divided on who should pay, did not make such commitments, saying only that the trillions of dollars needed would come “from all sources”.

“The leaders are kicking the can back to Baku,” said Mick Sheldrick, co-founder of the advocacy group Global Citizen, referring to the capital of Azerbaijan where the UN climate talks are taking place.

“This is probably going to make it harder to achieve an agreement,” he said.

The risk of an escalation in the war in Ukraine and the prospect of a return of US president-elect Trump’s isolationist “America First” policies also dominated the G20 talks in Brazil.

US President Joe Biden is at the summit, but as a lame duck he has been eclipsed by China’s Xi Jinping, who has cast himself as a protector of the international order in the new Trump era.

Mr Xi, who held back-to-back meetings with other leaders including Anthony Albanese, warned the world faced a new ­period of “turbulence” and said there should be “no escalation of wars, and no fanning of flames”.

In a statement, the G20 called for “comprehensive” ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon.

But the summit was riven with divisions over Ukraine.

On Sunday, Mr Biden, who is attempting to ringfence support for Ukraine before Mr Trump’s ­return to power, gave Kyiv the green light to use long-range US missiles to strike deep inside ­Russian territory.

The move – a major policy shift by Washington – threatens to escalate a war Mr Trump has vowed to quickly end.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attempted to put ­issues close to his heart, such as fighting hunger and climate change, at the top of the agenda.

At the opening of the summit, he launched the centerpiece of his G20 presidency: a global alliance against poverty and hunger backed by 82 countries that aims to feed half a billion people by 2030.

He won further praise from campaigners by garnering support for a bid to make billionaires pay more tax.

The summit statement included a pledge to “engage co-­operatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed”, and to devise mechanisms to prevent them dodging tax authorities.

“Brazil has lit a path toward a more just and resilient world, challenging others to meet them at this critical juncture,” anti-poverty group Oxfam said.

But Lula’s progressive social agenda met some resistance from Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei, who is an ardent fan of Mr Trump and his billionaire adviser, Elon Musk.

Mr Milei said he opposed points in the summit declaration, including increasing state intervention to combat hunger and regulating social media but saved Brazil’s blushes by nonetheless signing up to the joint statement.

The meeting comes in a year marked by another grim litany of extreme weather, including ­Brazil’s worst bushfire season in more than a decade, and the opening of a new front in Israel’s wars with its Arab neighbours.

“Today the world is on a knife edge,” EU Council president Charles Michel warned.

The get-together caps a diplomatic farewell tour by Mr Biden that took him to Lima, Peru, for a meeting of APEC trading partners, and then to the Amazon in the first such visit for a sitting US president.

Conspicuously absent from the summit was Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose arrest is sought by the International Criminal Court over the Ukraine war.

AFP