Tackling climate change, biodiversity loss and promoting environmental protection remain “urgent priorities”, says the G20 Finance Group in a Communiqué adopted on 10 July in Venice (see other news).
Finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s 20 largest economies are listing some measures that would help achieve “fair and orderly” transitions to low-carbon economies while taking into account each country’s starting point. These include investments in sustainable infrastructure and innovative technologies that promote decarbonisation and the circular economy, and designing mechanisms to support clean energy sources, including the “rationalisation and phasing-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” and, “if appropriate, the use of carbon pricing mechanisms”.
From a strictly economic perspective, the G20 Finance reiterates its commitment to “use all available instruments for as long as necessary” to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. It stresses the importance of avoiding too rapid a withdrawal of support measures in order to stimulate an economic recovery that remains uneven across and within countries. In addition, the Communiqué calls for an “open, rules-based” trading system and reform of the WTO.
See the G20 Finance Communiqué: https://bit.ly/36w83NG (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)