Tatsat Chronicle Magazine

Climate Goals No Show for G20 Economies in First Meet After 2 Years

November 10, 2021
G20 economies

Covid was on everyone’s mind as 20 of the world’s super economic powers met and discussed the social and environmental angle to it. The economy was the mainstay and the main subject, even as the larger issue of tackling the Covid impact was discussed. The G20 economies came together after a gap of 2 years owing to the Covid 19 pandemic that had led to a number of discussions around reviving the economy with an eye on clean energy.

To keep things in perspective, India is one of the G20 economies that has already proposed several changes to its existing Energy Conservation Act of 2001. This has led to a stance that makes sustainable habitats the mainstay of its socio economic growth. But did the other nations share the sentiment?

While there was a general consensus that the state of economic growth needed a push for all the G20 economies involved, there was a failure to set new targets and more strict pledges towards vital climate goals and concerns. Many experts noted that this would lead to a lopsided social impact in terms of:

  • Sustainable economic growth
  • The tax cuts would prompt many from parking their money in tax havens
  • Yet, there would be little done in terms of setting standards or limitations on energy usage

Now, while there have been major observations and proposals on tax benefits and tax cuts, there has been a lack of any kind of pledge towards even more strict climate centric goals. This is ironic coming from a bloc of G20 economies that together account for over 80% of the total greenhouse emissions and over 60% of the world’s population.

The general observation here is that, together, these G20 economies and countries could apply pledges and limits on their population so as to emit less, and create a new standard for sustainable living and operations, worldwide.