Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia stall G20 group ecological progress

NAPLES: Environment and energy ministers from the Group of 20 rich nations were making little progress on how to reach climate goals, officials said in reports yesterday, with a cluster of countries resisting any firm commitments.

The G20 meeting in Naples discussed biodiversity and the natural environment early yesterday, while energy and climate change would be on the agenda overnight. Diplomats have struggled for days to find meaningful common ground on both topics.

Italy, which holds the rotating G20 presidency this year, said the environment communique had finally been agreed to the ‘‘great joy’’ of all 20 countries after ‘‘weeks of negotiations and a twoday nonstop session’’.

It was to be published before an overnight news conference by Italian Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani.

The overnight statement, directly addressing climate change commitments, was expected to prove more challenging, perhaps incohesive.

In his address to the G20, Argentina’s Environment Minister Juan Cabandie called for a ‘‘debt swap’’ whereby a portion of the debt of developing countries be forgiven so that they could fund ecological transition.

The G20 meeting is seen as a key intermediate stage ahead of global climate talks known as COP 26 to be held in Glasgow in November.

The urgency of climate action has been brought home this month by deadly floods in Europe, fires in the United States and sweltering temperatures in Siberia, but countries remain at odds on how to pay for costly policies to reduce global warming.

Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia were among countries continuing to resist attempts by the Italian presidency to beef up the language in the G20 statements, officials said.

‘‘It looks like there will be a complete lack of any commitments on money,’’ said Oscar Soria of the USbased online activist group Avaaz.

Developed countries agreed at the United Nations in 2009 to together contribute a total of $US100 billion ($NZ143 billion) each year by 2020 in climate finance to poorer countries, many of whom are grappling with rising seas, storms and droughts made worse by climate change. — Reuters