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Analysis

G20 Finance Conclusions
on Climate Change, 1999-2009

Drawn from G20 finance documents
Anton Malkin, G20 Research Group, August 2009

See also G20 Leaders' Conclusions on Climate Change

Summary of Conclusions on Climate Change in G20 Finance Communiqués

Notes: *emergency meetings

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Definition

In the context of the G20, climate change includes references to greenhouse gases, global warming, the Kyoto Protocol, emissions and carbon dioxide. It also includes references to the Global Environment Facility (which provides grants for climate change projects in developing countries). It includes references to sustainable development (because the United Nations defines climate change as falling within the scope of sustainable development). It excludes general references to energy, energy efficiency, clean energy, nuclear energy or alternative energy, unless the commitment involves climate change mitigation.

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Criteria

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Conclusions on Climate Change in G20 Finance Communiqués

Montreal, Canada, October 25, 2000
Communiqué

6. Contribute to international efforts to increase the provision of other global public goods to address serious issues such as infectious disease, agricultural research, and the environment, which cut across national borders and require concerted global co-operation.

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Xianghe, China, October 15-16, 2005
Communiqué

3. We are concerned that long lasting high and volatile oil prices could increase inflationary pressures, slow down growth, and cause instability in the global economy. We agree to strengthen our cooperation on these issues and stress the need to increase investment, production, and refining capacities, and to enhance dialogue between oil suppliers and consumers through the relevant fora, such as International Energy Forum (IEF). We also need to strengthen oil market transparency to improve market efficiency. We stress the importance of promoting energy conservation and efficiency, including adopting and transferring new technologies, developing alternative and renewable energy sources, and reducing subsidies on oil products. We welcome the work launched by the World Bank and partners on the creation of a long-term investment framework for clean energy and sustainable development and the upcoming creation by the IMF of a new window in the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) to help poor countries respond to commodity shocks, including oil price hikes.

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Xianghe, China, October 15-16, 2005
G20 Statement on Global Development Issues

Global partnership towards reducing poverty and promoting global development

7. We are committed to this shared vision for global development. We will continue to pragmatically develop the global partnership among developed and developing countries. We will also promote greater cooperation among members of the international community, including public-private partnerships, in order to meet the common development challenges of sustainable and inclusive growth and poverty alleviation. We are determined to carry the momentum forward.

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Melbourne, Australia, November 18-19, 2006
Communiqué

Long-term resource security and dealing with key global challenges, such as climate change, require effective international policy frameworks and actions. Well-functioning markets-characterised by clear price signals, open trade and investment, market transparency, good governance, and effective competition among firms-will support investment in new supply, bring forth efficiencies and new technologies, encourage the use of alternative and renewable energy sources, and allow knowledge and resources to flow across borders. We note the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook and its recommendations.

We support the Joint Oil Data Initiative and see value in it being extended to other energy sectors, like gas, and incorporating a common definition of energy reserves. We encourage the development of clear principles to guide trade and investment for extractive industries. We agreed that the G20 will work toward articulating these principles. We discussed the links between energy and climate change policy, including the role of market-based mechanisms, and agreed that the G20 would monitor this issue.

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Kleinmond, South Africa, November 17-18, 2007
Communiqué

4. We noted the medium-term challenges which need to be addressed to ensure future global prosperity, including climate change, energy security and protectionism. We reaffirmed our commitment to maintain open trade and investment regimes and to resist protectionist pressures. We committed to working with our trade authorities to reach a rapid and successful conclusion to Doha, to promote open and rules-based trade and investment regimes, improve productivity, create jobs, alleviate poverty and spur competition. We noted the critical importance of trade liberalisation and Aid for Trade for global poverty reduction.

5. We discussed the economic implications of climate change. We noted the relationship with other key economic goals as well as the important discussions in other fora on an international policy response to climate change. We agreed that the G20 can play an important role in this debate.

8. We noted that several factors are important in finding and creating fiscal space, including the design of effective medium-term fiscal frameworks and the institutional underpinnings of successful national budgeting; and that the coordination of expenditure across tiers of government can also be important for the overall coherence of efforts to create fiscal space. We also highlighted the important role long-term – or intergenerational – budgeting can play in helping to coordinate revenue and expenditure policies and in providing the resources necessary to respond to long-term challenges, including demographic change, climate change and the provision of infrastructure. In addition, a range of public services is critical for economic development, including social and economic infrastructure, institution building, and human capital and skills development; and agreed that it would be useful to explore further the identification of those needs, the returns to investing in them, and the most effective ways of implementing policy and institutional solutions to delivering them. We agreed to continue this discussion next year, emphasizing the quality and efficiency of public expenditure, macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability, as well as assessing the role of counter-cyclical fiscal policies as a stabilising and growth-sustaining tool.

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Sao Paulo, Brazil, November 8-9, 2009
Communiqué

8. One of the most deleterious aspects of the current crisis is the freeze in the private credit and equity markets and the tendency of capital to flow back to where the current crisis originated. We should explore ways to restore emerging and developing countries’ access to credit and resume private capital flows which are critical for sustainable growth and development, including ongoing infrastructure investment.

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