2023 G20 Summit: 10 biggest green takeaways from the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration

The New Delhi Leaders' Declaration welcomed the move to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. (Photo credit: Captain Darwin via Wikimedia Commons)

The announcement came as a surprise. On Day 1 of the G20 Summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the G20 had received consensus on a leaders’ declaration. “I have received good news. Due to the hard work of our team, consensus has been built on New Delhi G20 Leaders’ Summit Declaration. My proposal is to adopt this leadership declaration. I announce to adopt this declaration. On this occasion, I congratulate my Sherpa, ministers, who worked hard for it and made it possible,” said PM Modi.

The 37-page declaration, released under India’s Presidency, focuses on:

- Strong, Sustainable, Balanced, and Inclusive Growth

- Accelerating Progress on #SDGs

- Green Development Pact for a Sustainable Future

- Multilateral Institutions for the 21st Century

- Reinvigorating Multilateralism

While the G20’s comments on the Ukraine-Russia war got the most attention after its release, issues related to the current climate crisis, too, were in focus. Here are the 10 biggest green takeaways:

1. Limiting global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius: Noting the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessments, which state that the impacts of climate change will be much lower at a temperature increase of 1.5°C compared with 2°C, the G20 reiterated its resolve to make further efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C. This will require meaningful and effective actions and commitment by all countries, and rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global GHG emissions of 43 percent by 2030 relative to the 2019 level.

2. Mainstreaming LiFE: The leaders committed to robust collective actions that will enable the world to embrace sustainable production and consumption patterns and mainstream Lifestyles for Sustainable Development. Studies show that it could contribute to significant emission reduction by 2030 for a global net-zero future. This was one of India’s key focus areas during its Presidency.

3. Designing a Circular Economy World: This year saw the launch of the Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy Industry Coalition (RECEIC). At the summit, the G20 leaders committed to enhance environmentally sound waste management, substantially reduce waste generation by 2030, and highlighted the importance of zero-waste initiatives.

4. Focus on clean, sustainable and inclusive energy transition: The world needs an annual investment of over USD 4 trillion, with a high share of renewable energy in the primary energy mix. To this end, the ‘G20 High Level Voluntary Principles on Hydrogen’ was affirmed to build a sustainable and equitable global hydrogen ecosystem that benefits all nations. At the same time, it recognized the importance of sustainable biofuels in zero and low-emission development strategies, and noted the setting up of a Global Biofuels Alliance.

5. Replenishment of Green Climate Fund: The declaration underscored the importance of maximizing the effect of concessional resources, such as those of the multilateral climate funds, to support developing countries’ implementation of the Paris Agreement and called for an ambitious second replenishment process of the Green Climate Fund for its upcoming 2024-2027 programming period.

6. Scaling up climate finance: The leaders noted the need for USD 5.8-5.9 trillion in the pre-2030 period for developing countries, in particular for their needs to implement their NDCs, as well as the requirement of USD 4 trillion per year for clean energy technologies by 2030 to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The parties also called to set an ambitious, transparent and trackable New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) of climate finance in 2024, from a floor of USD 100 billion a year, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries in fulfilling the objective of the UNFCCC and implementation of the Paris Agreement.

7. Reducing land degradation: The G20 announced its ambition to reduce land degradation by 50 percent by 2040 on a voluntary basis, as committed under the G20 Global Land Initiative.

8. Stopping and reversing biodiversity loss: The leaders committed to the swift, full and effective implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and encouraged others to do the same, to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

9. Ending plastic pollution: The G20 is determined to end plastic pollution, and welcomed the establishment of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, with the ambition of completing its work by the end of 2024.

10. Early warning and early action: They also urged for accelerating progress on reducing disaster risk and building resilient infrastructure through strengthening national and local capacities, innovative financing tools, private sector investment, and knowledge sharing.