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Mark Magnier

Brazil wrapped up the annual G20 summit of major industrialised and developing economies in Brazil on Tuesday with a focus on sustainable development and the transition to renewable energy.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the assembled delegates that member countries have to step up their game on global governance, health security, women’s empowerment and the equitable spread of technology.
“We worked hard,” he said. “But we only scratched the surface of the deep challenges that the world has to face.”
Lula’s call for more aggressive climate change action comes as leaders meet in Azerbaijan for COP29, the 29th annual meeting of the UN Conference of the Parties founded in 1995. Brazil is slated to host COP30 next year.
“Few of us imagined three decades later we would witness the hottest year in history, with floods, droughts and hurricanes becoming more and more frequent,” Lula told G20 leaders, whose countries are responsible for 80 per cent of the world’s emissions. “We need to do more and better.”
Speaking at Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Modern Art, where the conference was based, Lula touted Brazil’s own record and urged others to follow suit.

Among his country’s achievements: formation of the Task Force for the Global Mobilization Against Climate Change, which brings together finance, foreign affairs and environment ministers and central bank presidents from around the world to spur action; accelerated reduction of Brazil’s target emissions to 67 per cent over 2005 levels by 2035; and a decline in the nation’s deforestation by 45 per cent over the past two years.
Lula also called on G20 nations to speed up their targets for carbon neutrality in a bid to meet them by 2040 or even 2045 instead of the current 2050 deadline. Nearly all countries are behind schedule.
“Without assuming their historical responsibilities, rich nations will not have the credibility to demand ambition from others,” he said, adding that developing countries also need to do more by embracing comprehensive emission reduction targets.
“In the fight for survival, there is no room for denialism and misinformation,” he added.
The imminent return of US president-elect Donald Trump was very much on leaders’ minds in Brazil, as it was at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru immediately preceding the G20, given his “America first” stance toward many of the issues central to the multilateral groups, including climate change, globalisation and trade liberalisation.


Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned on Monday that the world faced a new period of “turbulence” and said there should be “no escalation of wars, and no fanning of flames”, while European Council President Charles Michel said: “The world is on a knife-edge.”
In a break with tradition, the leaders’ declaration was released a day early amid reports that Lula engineered a “fait accompli operation” to get it out quickly before a delicate consensus over the 85-point statement could unravel. Among the controversial issues addressed were gender equality and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Argentina’s firebrand right-wing president, Javier Milei, has bridled against gender equality issues, with his the only country last week to vote against a UN resolution promoting steps to counter online violence against women and girls.
Issues related to Ukraine have divided the US, China and Russia even as other countries have criticised Washington’s support for Israel after its military response to the deadly attack by Hamas in 2023.
Also adding to tension over any consensus was US President Joe Biden’s reversal of policy in allowing Ukraine to use long-range US missiles to strike deep inside Russia, a response to Moscow employing North Korean troops in Ukraine.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who is wanted by an International Criminal Court, did not attend the G20 “so as not to disrupt” the meeting, he said. But Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who represented Moscow in Rio de Janeiro, issued a warning if Russia is struck.

“If the long-range missiles are used from the territory of Ukraine against the Russian territory, it will mean that they are controlled by American military experts and we will view that as a qualitatively new phase of the western war against Russia and respond accordingly,” Lavrov said on Tuesday.
Against that backdrop, the leaders’ equivocal summit statement welcomed “all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just and durable peace” in Ukraine.
But, as with previous G20 gatherings, Russian aggression was not brought up in the statement, nor was there any mention of Beijing’s role in helping Moscow.
But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed anger at G20 members for failing to speak out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 1,000 days into the war, even as he called on Xi to intercede with Moscow during a bilateral meeting, echoing the message Biden delivered to Xi on the sidelines of Apec in Peru a few days ago.
“These 20 cannot find clear words on Russia’s responsibility in this matter,” Scholz said, referring to his G20 partners. “I would have liked to have seen something different.”
Lula wrapped up the G20 gathering after a strong showing on Monday, having convinced 82 countries to sign up to his signature Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty designed to end malnutrition by 2030, part of the president’s left-leaning agenda.
This comes as Brazil, and much of the rest of the world, faces a growing rich-poor gap and rising political discontent.
Lula’s domestic challenges were highlighted on Tuesday when Brazilian police arrested four soldiers and a policeman, including a member of former president Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, over an alleged plan to kill then president-elect Lula and his vice-president days before they took office in 2022, police said.
AFP reported that the soldiers were part of the G20 security detail, which the Brazilian military denied.
Lula was elected in October 2022, defeating right-wing incumbent Bolsonaro, a populist ally of Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, and took office in January 2023.

Biden’s diminished political power, which follows his party’s resounding defeat on November 5, was underscored on Monday when Biden was late for a group photo. After waiting, the assembled global leaders opted to take it without him. On Tuesday, a second “family photo” was scheduled, this time with Biden, who turns 82 on Wednesday.
The conflicts raging in the Middle East, where Israel is waging offensives in Gaza and Lebanon, also preoccupied the G20, which called for “comprehensive” ceasefires in both territories.
Lula managed to garner support for a bid to raise taxes on the very wealthy with a nonbinding pledge in the leaders’ declaration to “engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed,” and to devise mechanisms to prevent them dodging tax authorities.
The meeting also called for reforms to multilateral institutions, trade, renewable energy, development banks more responsive to sub-Saharan Africa, health infrastructure and vaccines.
As the meeting wrapped up Tuesday, Lula handed the reins to South Africa, next year’s G20 host. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa cited inclusive economic growth, food security and artificial intelligence as priorities for 2025.
International meetings, however, have a long history of espousing noble ideals that fall short on implementation.
“To what extent there is follow-through on these priorities is debatable,” said Sourabh Gupta, senior fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies in Washington. “It’s the same old blah blah blah in the conference halls.”


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In closing remarks, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva touted his country’s record on addressing climate change and urged others to follow suit. Photo: AFP

World leaders including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (centre) and US President Joe Biden prepare for a group photo on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

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The G20 Summit opens on Monday at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends the first working session at the G20 summit on Monday. Photo: dpa

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Global leaders attending the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, pose for a group photo at the end of the first session on November 18, 2024. Photo: AFP

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping before the start of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 18, 2024. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese President Xi Jinping smiles at the end of the first session of the G20 leaders’ meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 18, 2024. Photo AFP

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‘We only scratched the surface of the deep challenges the world has to face,’ Brazilian host says as gathering of world leaders concludes.


G20 ends with call for urgent action on climate, global health, women’s rights

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}‘We only scratched the surface of the deep challenges the world has to face,’ Brazilian host says as gathering of world leaders concludes.

‘We only scratched the surface of the deep challenges the world has to face,’ Brazilian host says as gathering of world leaders concludes.