G20 Leaders Address Energy & Climate Change At Mexico Meeting

Jun 19: The Leaders of the G20, meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico on 18-19 June 2012 adopted an 84 point Declaration that included statements relating to energy and climate change. We The G20 nations will next convene in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2013. The G20 includes 19 country members and the European Union, which together represent around 90% of global GDP, 80% of global trade and two-thirds of the world's population. The member countries include: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The following are the statements related to energy and climate change:

• We recognize that excessive price volatility in energy commodities is also an important source of economic instability. We remain committed to well-functioning and transparent energy markets. We will continue to work to improve the timeliness, completeness and reliability of JODI-Oil and look forward to a progress report next year. We will work on the JODI-Gas database on the same principles. We expect the International Energy Forum (IEF) report on improving the reliability of the JODI-Oil database and the report on transparency in international gas and coal markets submitted by the International Energy Agency (IEA), IEF, and Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to be discussed by our Finance Ministers in November. We also look forward to IOSCO's recommendations to improve the functioning and oversight of Price Reporting Agencies in November 2012, which will be produced in collaboration with other mandated organizations (IEF, IEA and OPEC), and task Finance Ministers to take concrete measures in this area as necessary.
  
• We commit to continue to help developing countries sustain and strengthen their development through appropriate measures, including those that encourage inclusive green growth. We will reaffirm our commitment to sustainable development at the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). We commit to maintaining a focus on inclusive green growth as part of our G20 agenda and in the light of agreements reached at Rio+20 and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
  
• Climate change will continue to have a significant impact on the world economy, and costs will be higher to the extent we delay additional action. We reiterate our commitment to fight climate change and welcome the outcome of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN climate change conferences. We are committed to the full implementation of the outcomes of Cancun and Durban and will work with Qatar as the incoming Presidency towards achieving a successful and balanced outcome at COP-18. We emphasize the need to structurally transform economies towards a climate-friendly path over the medium term. We welcome the creation of the G20 study group on climate finance, in order to consider ways to effectively mobilize resources taking into account the objectives, provisions and principles of the UNFCCC in line with the Cancun Agreement and ask to provide a progress report to Finance Ministers in November. We support the operationalization of the Green Climate Fund.
  
• In Cannes we committed to promote low-carbon development strategies in order to optimize the potential for green growth and ensure sustainable development in our countries and beyond. We therefore welcome the report on clean energy and energy efficiency technologies and acknowledge the G20 countries' efforts to foster investment in these technologies through the sharing of national experiences regarding challenges for technology deployment.

    The members also agreed on a globally coordinated economic plan to achieve those goals through their Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth. The plan incorporates and extends the Cannes Action Plan, and significantly intensifies the efforts to achieve a stronger, more durable recovery. The Los Cabos Growth and Jobs Action Plan starts from the premise that cooperation and coordination will result in better economic outcomes. The members said they are united in their commitment to take strong and decisive action to deliver on the itemized commitments.

 

    Access the complete 84 point Declaration (click here). Access an overview and link to the Los Cabos Growth and Jobs Action Plan (click here). Access the G20 Mexico website for complete information on the meeting (click here). [#Energy, #Climate]