provided by the G20 Research Group
G20 Summits |
G20 Ministerials |
G20 Analysis |
Search |
About the G20 Research Group
[English]
[Français]
[Deutsch]
[Italiano]
[Portuguesa]
[Japanese]
[Chinese]
[Korean]
[Indonesian]
|
G20 Information Centre provided by the G20 Research Group |
|
|
G20 Summits |
G20 Ministerials |
G20 Analysis |
Search |
About the G20 Research Group
|
||
The “Daniel Machado da Fonseca” G20 Climate-Related References
Climate-related outcomes of working groups and task forces under the Brazilian G20 Presidency in 2024
Washington DC, October 24, 2024
[PDF]
This document is a tribute to Counsellor Daniel Machado da Fonseca, who was one of the creators of TF-CLIMA and whose ideals, principles and unwavering dedication were a permanent source of inspiration for the work of the task force.
Climate change is a global phenomenon, and it impacts all aspects of life. As the world enters a context of climate urgency, the environmental, the economic, the social and the geopolitical realms are increasingly subject to disruptions, the consequences of which are yet difficult to assess in their full extent. It has become evident that the global community must address the various aspects of the climate crisis, be it with the aim of fighting its root causes, anticipating its consequences or recovering from its record of destruction.
The Brazilian Presidency of the G20 placed climate change at the center of its agenda. Under the priority “sustainable development and energy transitions”, the G20 countries are called to lead the way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting the conditions for long-term resilience of economies and societies. Within the Task Force on a Global Mobilization against Climate Change (TF-CLIMA), representatives of the Sherpa and Finance tracks joined hands for the first time with the objective of putting forward ideas and recommendations for the deployment of ambitious and economy-wide national transition plans and for unlocking urgently needed financial flows towards developing countries.
Given its cross-cutting nature, climate change was the focus of a significant number of G20 working groups. In accordance with these groups’ respective scope, various social, economic and environmental aspects of climate change were highlighted and discussed, resulting in important sets of initiatives, recommendations and studies.
This Presidency Publication highlights all climate-relevant conclusions that took place during the Brazilian G20 Presidency and, consequently, lays the ground for the continuity of climate discussions in future G20 Presidencies.
In the "Inception Document" of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, it is stated that hunger and poverty jeopardise development and global stability, "with repercussions for public health, inequalities, climate action, and democracy itself".
Further, it notes the significant setbacks in the realization of the SDGs, "due to challenges intensified by climate change, biodiversity loss, the COVID-19 pandemic, … and other facets of the multidimensional global crisis", and the importance and interdependence of SDGs 1 and 2 in realising the other goals, including SDG 13 (“Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”).
It highlights the role of political action at national level, since increasing access to adequate, diverse and healthy diets can also create incentives "for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and adaptation to and mitigation of climate change".
The document also stresses that investment in the expansion of sustainable, climate-resilient and inclusive food systems is indispensable "to address the multiple and widespread impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss".
The Inception Document also points to the need of strengthening the fight against intersectoral inequalities suffered by the most vulnerable populations, generally those most affected by idiosyncratic and covariate shocks, "including climate-related risks and social, economic, and environmental shocks."
The Alliance is comprised of a Financial Pillar. Since bilateral and multilateral assistance and development finance, including climate finance, are key to building adaptable social protection systems, the Financial Pillar intends to facilitate "resilience and adaptation to climate change as well as faster, more cost-effective, and predictable responses to climate and disaster related shocks".
The “Global Alliance's Policy Basket” puts forth a set of inclusion criteria that should be considered when choosing instruments to combat hunger and poverty, including:
the promotion of sustainable and healthy food systems "that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding, and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality and maintain fish stocks (SDG target 2.4)” (criteria a.7); and
the reduction of exposure and vulnerability by increasing the resilience of poor and vulnerable populations to phenomena such as drought, flooding, and other disasters (criteria a.8).
In their Ministerial Declaration, G20 Environment and Climate Ministers reaffirmed the group's commitment to intensify urgent actions to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification, land and ocean degradation, drought, and pollution. They committed to addressing these crises, acknowledging that the impacts of climate change are already being felt worldwide—hitting vulnerable regions hardest through unprecedented floods, extreme droughts, heatwaves, and other events for which we are not yet fully prepared.
The Ministerial Declaration highlights several core issues, including:
The cross-cutting nature of climate action, emphasizing urgent efforts to scale up and mainstream mitigation and adaptation while upholding the UNFCCC’s objectives. This includes strengthening the Paris Agreement’s implementation, reflecting the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR).
The need for a coordinated response to environmental crises, recognizing the interlinkages among climate adaptation, oceans, payment for ecosystem services, waste, and the circular economy.
Oceans' crucial role in ensuring climate stability and addressing climate change, requiring sufficient financing, strengthened efforts, and effective management to protect marine environments and ensure sustainable resource use, besides the need for a promotion of just and sustainable blue economy that supports community resilience and enhances understanding of human impacts on marine ecosystems.
The need for raising awareness, building capacity and fostering the meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples, local and coastal communities, women, and youth in ocean conservation and restoration, decision-making, and management efforts.
The importance of considering innovative tools, such as payments for ecosystem services, to support conservation, restoration and sustainable use of natural resources, which contribute to sustainable development and poverty eradication.
The importance of increasing reliable long-term funding, capacity building, and technical cooperation to advance innovative financial mechanisms for nature.
The high costs of inaction, which are far outweigh the costs of mitigation and adaptation, with the poorest and most vulnerable populations being the hardest hit, and the crucial role of public finance in mobilizing other sources of climate finance for adaptation.
The need of continued efforts to tackle pollution at the national, regional and global levels to reduce its impacts on the environment and human health, and to promote sustainable consumption and production patterns to work towards the achievement of the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
While recognizing the crucial role adaptations plays in supporting sustainable development and poverty eradication, particularly in addressing financial gaps to implement measures at the necessary scale to manage and mitigate the most severe climate impacts, the G20 Ministers of Environment and Climate Sustainability also resolve to work together to:
trengthen scientific knowledge and building technical capacity in developing countries for climate policy and project preparation.
Keep climate adaptation a top priority on the G20 agenda, reframing it as integral and essential to social and economic development, in synergy with climate, economic, and fiscal policies.
Explore ways to enhance financing for adaptation, particularly from public sources, through existing channels, and consider developing a dedicated framework or platform for private investment in adaptation.
Recognize the need to increase private finance's role in adaptation, collaborating with private sector representatives, multilateral and bilateral financing institutions, and governments to identify and promote innovative financing mechanisms that support the implementation of National Adaptation Plans, Policies, and Strategies.
The “G20 Ministerial Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction” reaffirms the strong interconnections between disaster risk reduction, sustainable development, and climate change adaptation. G20 DRR Ministers recognized that emerging threats and risks—whether arising from natural hazards, human activities, or amplified by climate change—are outpacing current response efforts.
The main concerns remained with those most exposed, particularly people in vulnerable situations, who continue to be disproportionately impacted by disasters. Therefore, the Ministerial Declaration emphasizes the urgent need for increased international and domestic investment—both public and private—in resilient, inclusive, accessible, sustainable, and high-quality infrastructure. Such investments are essential to reduce disaster risks, mitigate losses, build adaptive capacity, protect sustainable development, and manage residual risks effectively, in alignment with national circumstances, priorities, and needs.
To promote and pursue accessible, inclusive, locally led, and equitable recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction after disasters, the G20 ministers reinforced the need for integrating disaster risk reduction measures into the restoration of physical infrastructure, societal systems, and the revitalization of livelihoods, economies, and the environment. They underscored the importance of learning from past events and advancing science- and evidence-based solutions, supported by coordination across all relevant sectors, while addressing environmental and climate change impacts and associated risks.
The ministerial declaration acknowledges that nature-based and ecosystem-based approaches can significantly contribute to disaster risk reduction and encourages their integration into land-use planning and climate adaptation efforts. This approach aims to enhance environmental resilience within disaster risk management strategies.
Additionally, the ministerial declaration acknowledges that nature-based and ecosystem-based approaches can significantly contribute to disaster risk reduction and encourages their integration into land-use planning and climate adaptation efforts. This approach aims to enhance environmental resilience within disaster risk management strategies.
In the document "Leaving No One Behind: G20 Ministerial Development Declaration to Reduce Inequalities", Development Ministers of the G20 point to climate change, among other social, economic and environmental threats, as factors that “disproportionately affect persons living in poverty and in vulnerable situations and in developing countries, limiting their resources and capacity to achieve the SDGs and global development, environment and climate goals”.
They also recognize “the importance of strengthening and expanding coverage of national social protection systems and programs, and of increasing the adequacy and shock responsiveness of programs across the formal and informal economy in response to an increase in emergent global challenges and shocks, including disasters and the adverse effects of climate change”.
The ministers further emphasize their countries' support for “the promotion of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) systems that are inclusive, integrated, sustainable, and gender-responsive to build resilience to the impacts of biodiversity loss, climate change, environmental degradation, water-borne diseases, disasters, and pollution, in order to achieve better health, education and socio-economic development outcomes”.
Through the “G20 Call to Action on Strengthening Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services”, ministers agreed to achieve transformative progress on access to water and sanitation, and to integrate these priorities into national policies, align with approaches that promote the progressive improvement of WASH services, ensuring that actions are sustainable, climate-resilient and inclusive.
The Employment Working Group discussed active inclusion policies that are guided by the imperative of a just transition, in particular the imperative of balancing environmental sustainability with the creation of decent work and quality jobs and ensuring a transition for workers in still carbon-intensive industries.
In its Ministerial Declaration, G20’s Employment Ministers acknowledged both the challenges and opportunities of a just transition in the world of work. They recognized that the ongoing energy transition could enhance labour market participation, mitigate climate change impacts, and raise living standards while creating new opportunities for workers.
The Declaration emphasizes that climate change also affects workers' rights, triggers structural changes in the labour market, leads to disruptions across various sectors, and may worsen existing inequalities, particularly impacting women, girls, and people in vulnerable situations.
The G20’s Employment Ministers also acknowledge the potential harm of heat stress and workplace injuries caused by climate change and calls for the implementation of robust, risk-based occupational safety and health policies to adapt to the effects of climate change on workers. They pointed that heat stress significantly affects workers, especially those in agriculture, construction, and outdoor work, and those vulnerable workers, often without adequate protection or access to healthcare and income security services, are disproportionately impacted.
Under Brazil's G20 Presidency, the Women Empowerment Working Group prioritized the concept of climate justice, highlighting it from three perspectives: (i) the disproportionate impact of climate change on women; (ii) women’s essential contributions to climate action; and (iii) the need for progress in governance, promoting greater female participation in climate negotiation bodies and improved access to climate finance.
Therefore, G20 Ministers[1] responsible for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls agreed to dedicate a specific section of their communiqué to the topic of “Gender and Climate Action”.
They acknowledged that, although women and girls are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change, they are often underrepresented in environmental, climate, and disaster risk reduction-related decision-making fora and also often have unequal access and ownership over resources including land, services – including financial ones and credit – and technologies, which overall makes them more vulnerable to climate-related hazards and environmental degradation.
The communiqué emphasized that women and girls have been at the forefront of critical initiatives in sustainable and resilient agriculture and agri-food systems, encompassing value chains, sustainable energy sources, the development of adaptive solutions, and the sustainable management, conservation, restoration of biodiversity and natural resources, including soils, forests, water, and marine resources.
As a result, Ministers affirmed the necessity of gender-responsive and risk-informed climate action, which is crucial for enhancing ambition and achieving climate goals. They have also: (i) encouraged the strengthening of the evidence base and the use of sex-disaggregated data for gender analysis to inform climate policies, plans, strategies, and actions, as well as to conduct gender impact assessments based on national circumstances; (ii) committed to supporting and promoting the full, meaningful, and equal participation and leadership of all women and girls in climate action, disaster risk reduction, and the formulation and implementation of environmental policies, to advance sustainable development across the economic, environmental, and social dimensions.
Under Brazil’s presidency, the G20 Health Ministers endorsed a “Ministerial Declaration on Climate Change, Health and Equity, and on One Health”. The declaration acknowledges that climate change has multiple impacts on health and emphasizes the need to address the environmental as well as the social and economic determinants of health in a balanced manner to achieve better health outcomes.
Therefore, the G20 Health Ministers recognize that climate hazards and extreme weather events—such as heatwaves, floods, worsening wildfires, droughts, and air pollution—directly and indirectly affect human health by increasing the risks of infectious and noncommunicable diseases, including mental health issues and premature death. They commit to prioritizing the development of climate-resilient health systems, focusing on sustainable, low-carbon healthcare systems and supply chains that deliver high-quality health services while enhancing the mitigation and adaptation capacities of health systems.
The Ministerial Declaration also acknowledges that some countries face significant challenges in accessing financing for health and climate change initiatives. Thus, Health Ministers encourage efficient investments from public, private, bilateral, and multilateral sources, especially for those developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to adverse effects of climate change, enhancing support for country-led projects.
To advance climate health solutions, the declaration emphasizes the need for investment in scientific research on the health impacts of climate change, particularly for vulnerable populations. The G20 Health Ministers support integrating local, traditional, and Indigenous knowledge when appropriate, recognizing the value of evidence-based traditional and complementary medicines. They also aim to include health as a key component of national adaptation plans to enhance the integration of health impacts into the local climate agenda.
The G20 Health Ministers affirmed their commitment to promoting preventive, protective, and adaptive measures, including extreme weather-resistant infrastructure, access to integrated psychological and physical health services, early warning systems, and robust emergency preparedness. Aiming to integrate the health workforce into climate-sensitive strategies by incorporating climate change-related health information into pre-service and in-service training, they committed to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and equipping professionals with the knowledge and tools to adapt their practices.
In line with an One Health approach, and considering the impact of climate change on infectious disease patterns and the risk of zoonotic disease spillovers and spillback, the declaration reinforces the need to improve regional, national, and local surveillance tools to detect and monitor existing, emerging, and re-emerging infectious diseases – including zoonotic, neglected tropical, vector-borne, foodborne, waterborne, and airborne diseases, as well as antimicrobial use and resistance across humans, animals, plants, and the environment.
Lastly, the G20 Health Ministers commended efforts to sustainable funding and increase technical cooperation for implementing One Health policies and cross-sectoral activities. Additionally, they advocate for joint actions based on the WHO Quadripartite Joint Secretariat's guidelines for monitoring antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and consumption at global, regional, and national levels.
The G20 Ministers of Culture recognise the potential of culture to advance climate action. In their Ministerial Declaration, they emphasize the role of culture in leveraging the cultural transformative practices and knowledge systems of Indigenous Peoples, local and traditional communities for climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. The G20 Culture Ministers also highlighted the importance of promoting more sustainable cultural practices and protecting cultural and natural heritage, as well as cultural and creative industries, from the impacts of climate change.
Considering the growing threats linked to climate change challenges, the ministers also noted the importance of the development of common international standards on digital technology, as well as the use of open-source technologies based on international standards and good practices, for the conservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage.
In view of the urgent need to promote a strengthened global action, the G20 Culture Ministers reaffirm the need for strengthened cooperation to address the challenges posed to the effective preservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage in the context of climate change, and call for the integration of cultural heritage, arts, and creative industries into national climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, aligned with national priorities and capacities.
The “Salvador da Bahia Declaration of the G20 Ministers of Culture “reaffirmed the goal of the protection of Cultural Heritage from the impacts of climate-related risk, adopted at the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 28); and the launch of the Group of Friends of Culture-Based Climate Action (GFCBCA) at the first-ever Ministerial meeting on culture and climate at a COP, which advocates for effective steps towards unlocking the potential of culture and heritage to support climate action.
The G20 members recognize the significant potential of bioeconomy to contribute to building a sustainable future and fostering economic growth for all, by deciding to adopt ten voluntary and non-binding “High-Level Principles on Bioeconomy”.
Climate change is addressed in principle 3, “Advance mitigation and adaptation efforts against global climate change, in line with applicable multilateral climate agreements”.
One of the key priorities for the working group is the promotion of sustainability in agriculture, where climate plays a pivotal role. Sustainable agricultural practices have been highlighted as critical mechanisms to enhance resilience, mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, and transform food systems at the national, regional, and international levels.
In the “G20 Agriculture Ministers Declaration”, Ministers recognize that agriculture is at the forefront of addressing key challenges, such as fighting poverty, ending hunger and improving nutrition, “while confronting climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and desertification”.
The impacts of climate change were pointed as having “underscored the need for increased resilience and sustainability in agriculture, food production, distribution, and trade”. Additionally, Ministers raise their concern with “rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, more frequent extreme weather events, soil pollution and degradation, water pollution and loss of biodiversity”, which are manifesting more rapidly and unpredictably.
Agriculture Ministers also reaffirmed their steadfast commitments in pursuit of UNFCCC objectives to tackle climate change by strengthening the full and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement and its temperature goal, reflecting the principles of equity and the common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR).
By noting the importance of the sustainable use of bioeconomy in strengthening food security and nutrition, the Ministerial declaration also highlights the need “to promote the sustainable use and management of biodiversity and soil for food and agriculture, and promote climate-resilient crops, as well as secure tenure rights on land, fisheries and forests and integrated water resource management” when addressing food security challenges.
To enhance G20 efforts on science, technology and innovation, the Agriculture Ministers also called for the strengthening of research cooperation and the support of sustainable agricultural models, “adapted to local realities and characteristics, which contribute to climate resilience and biodiversity conservation”.
The Digital Economy Working Group has broadly addressed the environmental sustainability dimension of connectivity and highlighted the challenges posed by floods and climate disasters in safeguarding databases.
Amongst the group outcomes is the “Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change”, developed by the Brazilian presidency in partnership with the United Nations. The goal of the initiative is to gather and promote evidence on the impact of disinformation on climate action, to strengthen communication strategies and campaigns, and to coordinate an international medium-term initiative with States and international organizations to ensure information integrity.
The G20 Research and Innovation Ministerial Declaration, known as the “Manaus Declaration”, highlights the pivotal role of open innovation in strengthening national capacities in science, technology and innovation. The declaration emphasizes that open innovation is essential for collectively addressing contemporary global challenges and crises, including climate change, global warming, extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, land degradation, marine ecosystem degradation, waste, pollution, and pandemics. The declaration also stresses that these challenges exacerbate poverty, inequality, slow economic growth, hunger, food insecurity, disaster risks, and migration.
The G20 Ministers also reaffirmed the importance of collective action to address the climate crisis and its associated challenges. They emphasized the need for global efforts to reduce emissions and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions/carbon neutrality. As the declaration states, this goal should be pursued through “enhancing international cooperation, just energy transitions, resource efficiency, circular economies, and the development and use of various new and emerging sustainable technologies, as appropriate.”.
The Manaus Declaration underscored the need for voluntary sharing of knowledge, technologies, policies, and best practices “on mutually agreed terms related to environmentally-sound technologies, especially in the energy sector, to developing countries”.
The G20 Science, Technology & Innovation Ministers recognized the importance of promoting research and innovation in the Amazon and other forests, and in global marine and coastal environments. This effort is aimed at addressing global crises such as climate change, biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, and pollution, with the purpose to support sustainable development and the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
The Ministerial Declaration also recommend enhancing biodiversity data availability through open science platforms and the “FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable)” data principles, alongside ethical data governance frameworks such as “CARE (Collective benefits, Authority to control, Responsibility and Ethics)”. This should strengthen research, innovation, and public policies in biodiversity, sustainable bioeconomies, health, oceans, and climate.
Diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and sustainability were emphasized as central to science, technology & innovation initiatives, encompassing economic, social, environmental, gender, and race/ethnicity aspects. Special attention was given to vulnerable groups, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities in biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and climate action. The G20 Ministers encourage collective efforts to address these issues, including data sharing and the use of open science platforms for monitoring and policy implementation. Open science practices and actions were welcomed to support these goals.
The G20 Tourism Ministers' "Belém Declaration" urges multilateral organizations and financial institutions to fund four priority areas related to tourism. One key area is climate resilience and nature-positive tourism, which is recognized for its potential to generate positive social, environmental, and economic impacts, promoting sustainable growth and shared prosperity across sectors.
A report on "Approaches for Financing and Investing in Climate-Resilient Infrastructure", prepared by the OECD and welcomed by G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, was published. The document highlights the following three aspects: i) improving and increasing the transparency of climate risk analyses; ii) including the climate resilience dimension in infrastructure projects; and iii) promoting access to finance for resilient infrastructure projects.
The G20 Energy Ministers acknowledged the need to accelerate clean, sustainable, and inclusive energy transitions in response to climate change, taking into account different national circumstances, the need to increase access to energy, and to promote inclusive growth and energy security.
The Ministers recognized the need to catalyse and scale up investment from all financial sources and channels for bridging the funding gap for energy transitions globally, the need to de-risk and diversify additional investment in technologies and infrastructure, especially in developing countries and the role that domestic energy planning can have in creating an enabling investment for those investments.
The G20 Energy Ministers also recognized the role of sustainable fuels in reducing emissions in different sectors and the need to ensure consistency in assessing GHG emissions of sustainable fuels, enhancing stakeholder engagement, and contributing to the scalability, affordability, and fair competition of sustainable fuels. This should involve mutually recognized, interoperable, transparent, and verifiable standards and certification methodologies based on context-specific life cycle assessment principles. Ministers also urged international bodies developing methodologies and standards to consider IPCC scientific information and national circumstances and called for more collaboration.
The Ministers reiterated support for efforts to triple renewable energy capacity and double the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements globally through existing targets and policies, and also concerning other zero and low-emission technologies, including abatement and removal technologies. Concerning efforts to implement tripling renewable energy capacity, they recognised the need to adopt various approaches to enhance system flexibility and stability including through demand management, flexibility retrofitting, and expansion and modernisation of grid infrastructure backup and balancing capacities, as well as by accelerating the scale of deployment of energy storage technologies.
Additionally, the G20 Energy Ministers endorsed the 10 voluntary “Principles for Just and Inclusive Energy Transitions”, highlighting their importance in shaping and implementing domestic policies for energy transitions, bearing in mind national and international commitments and respective different national circumstances, needs and priorities. The principles also recognize the importance of international cooperation, existing frameworks promoting sustainable economies, and the focus on social justice, poverty eradication, and fairness to foster energy transitions.
An independent review of the vertical climate and environmental funds (GCF, GEF, CIF and AF) has been carried out by an Independent High-Level Expert Group appointed by the Brazilian G20 Presidency and the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group, with the objective of providing a set of actionable recommendations to optimize the operations of the funds, and to enhance their contribution to the mobilization of other sources of sustainable finance. This review has led to the publication of the report “Accelerating Sustainable Finance for Emerging Markets and Developing Economies”.
A set of G20 high-level and voluntary principles for advancing credible, robust and just transition plans across financial institutions and other corporates has been included in the 2024 G20 Sustainable Finance Report, together with general recommendations that may be voluntarily adopted to facilitate these institutions in supporting just transitions.
This year, the SFWG also focused on “Analysing implementation challenges related to sustainability reporting standards, including SMEs and EMDEs”. On this matter, the Sustainable Finance Report identifies the challenges and provides policy recommendations to address them. These recommendations promote reliable, comparable, and interoperable sustainability reporting disclosure standards that work for all
The Brazilian G20 Presidency commissioned the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) to conduct an assessment on blended finance structures for Nature-based Solutions (NbS), which has led to the publication of the report “Toolbox on Financing Nature-based Solutions (NbS)”. Through this, the SFWG aims to disseminate exemplary strategies for financing NbS among private investors, MDBs, DFIs, vertical funds, policymakers, and other stakeholders
The “G20 Roadmap Towards Better, Bigger, and More Effective Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs)” was formally endorsed during the 4th G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting on October 23-24. This comprehensive framework introduces three recommendation pillars—better, bigger, and more effective—to establish a strategic pathway for MDBs. The Roadmap aims to bolster MDBs' capacities to assist countries in their sustainable development pursuits, while concurrently tackling urgent global and regional challenges. Developed through a deliberate, inclusive, and collaborative process, the Roadmap represents a broad G20 consensus and targets MDB shareholders, Boards, management, staff, and other relevant stakeholders. By emphasizing transformation, it aims to drive MDBs to become pivotal actors in the journey to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement targets by 2030. This document will steer collective G20 efforts, positioning MDBs as integral to sustainable growth and climate action globally.
The Brazilian G20 Presidency presented notes on Climate Resilient Debt Clauses (CRDCs) and on debt-for-development swaps, which were referenced in the "Communiqué" of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors issued on July 26th. The notes call for a balanced view on the benefits and limitations of using these debt policy toolbox instruments. CRDCs aim to provide temporary liquidity and prevent a credit event in times of natural disasters, while debt-for-development swaps envision converting sovereign debt into development investments targeting areas aligned with the country’s strategic goals, such as the SDGs.
The “G20/OECD Note on Assessing and Promoting Capital Flow Resilience in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies: Evidence on Drivers and Policy Implications” was welcomed by the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in the “Communiqué” issued on October 24th. The note assesses the factors influencing capital flows to EMDEs, and how they can attract and retain stable, long-term foreign capital investment flows. It points out that emerging markets and developing economies need increasing amounts of foreign private capital to finance their climate transition, especially those with limited fiscal capacity and small domestic investor bases. Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a key role in accelerating energy transitions by providing sustainable financial and technological resources. Understanding what factors encourage FDI in renewable energy is important, as well as implementing climate policies and broad investment conditions to foster a favourable environment to attract capital.
A G20 Note on "Macroeconomic and distributional impacts of climate change and transition policies" was prepared with valuable inputs from the IADB, IEA, OECD, ECLAC, NGFS, IMF and World Bank. The note emphasizes the urgent need to address climate change to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth (SSBIG). It highlights that 2023 was the warmest year on record, with global temperatures nearing 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, resulting in severe and widespread impacts that disproportionately affect the most vulnerable populations. The note calls for targeted support measures, structural resilience improvements, and global cooperation in finance, capacity-building, and technology transfer to ensure equitable and orderly transitions.
The IADB, the IMF and the World Bank made presentations at the 4th FWG meeting on “Creating fiscal space to support more and better public investment while catalyzing private investment”. This topic is particularly important for developing countries, where governments must take a more active stance in tackling market failures and externalities in the current context, which includes responding to urgent issues stemming from climate-related emergencies.
Tasked by the G20 Finance Track the Financial Stability Board prepared a stocktake regarding financial authorities’ regulatory and supervisory initiatives and challenges related to the identification and assessment of nature-related financial risks, including the investigation of the perception of central banks and supervisors regarding whether the risk of biodiversity loss is a relevant financial risk.
Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors reviewed the FSB’s progress report on achieving consistent and comparable climate-related financial disclosures.
The Finance Track promoted the G20 TechSprint 2024, a joint initiative with the BIS Innovation Hub, which encouraged innovative solutions to sustainable finance challenges.
Under Brazil’s presidency, the Anti-corruption Working Group emphasized that anti-corruption policies should be viewed not as ends in themselves, but as tools for improving people’s lives, including in dealing with phenomenon such as the climate change.
Therefore, the Ministerial Declaration highlighted the importance of fostering integrity within public agencies, aligning with economic, social, and environmental sustainability goals. It also emphasized that business integrity should adopt a holistic approach, urging the private sector to uphold anti-corruption principles alongside human rights, labor standards, and environmental stewardship, in line with national legal frameworks.
The Ministerial Declaration further encouraged private sector engagement in adopting integrity systems that consider relevant risks, including the environmental, social, and economic impacts of their business activities.
[1] With the exception of Argentina ↩
Source: Official website of Brazil's 2024 G20 presidency
This Information System is provided by the University of Toronto Library
and the G20 Research Group at the University of Toronto.
Please send comments to:
g20@utoronto.ca
This page was last updated
December 26, 2024
 |
 |
 |
 |
All contents copyright © 2025. University of Toronto unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved.