Biden in historic Amazon trip ahead of G20, as Trump return sparks climate fears
A mural by artist-activist Mundano depicting the drought in the Amazon rainforest using paint made from the ashes of wildfires in the Amazon and mud from the floods in southern Brazil. (Photo: AP/Andre Penner)
RIO DE JANEIRO: Diplomatic tensions over global warming will take center stage at the G20 summit in Brazil this week.
Heads of state arriving in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday (Nov 17) for the G20 summit will spend Monday and Tuesday addressing issues from poverty and hunger to the reform of global institutions.
On his way to the talks, Joe Biden will become the first sitting US president to visit the Amazon rainforest, as he flags the dangers of global warming often dismissed by Donald Trump, who enters the White House in January vowing to scrap measures to fight climate change.
Biden is traveling from Lima, Peru, to Manaus, Brazil, to meet with local leaders working to preserve the Amazon.
He’ll then fly to Rio de Janeiro for a summit of the Group of 20 major economies addressing issues from hunger and poverty to global governance and climate change.
AMAZON'S FUTURE
Scientists say conservation of the Amazon is vital to curbing climate change because of the vast amount of climate-warming carbon dioxide its trees absorb.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has vowed to end deforestation in his country's rainforest by 2030 and urged wealthy nations to contribute to the cause.
Last year, Biden said he would request $500 million from the US Congress to support the Brazilian-administered Amazon Fund.
However, by July the United States had delivered on just a tenth of that pledge.
Trump has called climate change a hoax and plans to roll back much of Biden's landmark climate legislation to help pay for the extension of tax cuts secured in his first term.
The incoming Republican president also aims to boost record US oil and natural gas production and eliminate rules imposed by Biden to wean gasoline-powered cars off U.S. roads.
COP29 IMPASSE
The G20 summit follows the United Nations talks in Azerbaijan which hit an impasse on climate finance. It's an issue diplomats hope leaders of the world's 20 major economies can break in Rio.
Still, the ongoing UN climate talks have thrown a spotlight on their efforts to tackle global warming.
While the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, is tasked with agreeing a goal to mobilize hundreds billions of dollars for the climate, leaders of the Group of 20 major economies half a world away in Rio are holding the purse strings.
G20 countries account for 85 per cent of the world's economy and are the largest contributors to multilateral development banks helping to steer climate finance. They are also responsible for more than three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
"All countries must do their part. But the G20 must lead," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told COP29 last week. "They are the largest emitters, with the greatest capacities and responsibilities."
TRUMP EFFECT
Reaching such an accord may only get tougher with the return to power of US President-elect Donald Trump, who is reportedly preparing to again pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord.
Trump is also planning to roll back landmark climate legislation passed by the outgoing Joe Biden.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell wrote a letter to G20 leaders on Saturday imploring them to act on climate finance, including boosting grants for developing nations and advancing reforms of multilateral development banks.
However, the same fights that have plagued COP29 since it began last week are spilling over into G20 negotiations, according to diplomats close to the Rio talks.
COP29 must set a new goal for how much financing should be directed from developed countries, multilateral banks and the private sector to developing nations. Economists told the summit it should be at least $1 trillion.
Wealthy countries, especially in Europe, have been saying that an ambitious goal can only be agreed if they expand the base of contributors to include some of the richer developing nations, such as China and major Middle Eastern oil producers.
Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for likely the last time as US president on the last day of the APEC summit in Peru. But their goal of lowering tensions
before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office is being challenged by conflicts over trade, Taiwan and Russia. Kate Fisher reports from Lima.
SLOW TALKS
On Saturday, discussions of a G20 joint statement in Rio snagged on the same issue, with European nations pushing for more countries to contribute and developing countries such as Brazil pushing back, diplomats close to the talks told Reuters.
The success of not only COP29 but also the next UN climate summit, COP30 hosted in Brazil next year, hinges on a breakthrough on climate finance.
A centerpiece of Brazil's COP30 strategy is "Mission 1.5," a drive to keep alive the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The UN estimates that current national targets would cause temperatures to rise by at least 2.6 degrees C.
Developing countries argue they can only raise their targets for emissions reductions if rich nations, who are the main culprits for climate change, foot the bill.
"It is technically possible to meet the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius, but only if a G20-led, massive mobilization to cut all greenhouse gas emissions ... is achieved," said Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis at COP29 last week.
