G20 Rio – Incontro del Segretario Generale con la stampa
Rio de Janeiro, 17 November 2024
Ladies and gentlemen of the media,
I thank President Lula and the people of Brazil for their warm welcome, and for hosting the G20 Summit.
I am arriving here from COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
From Baku to Brazil and beyond, I am seeing and hearing common themes and concerns.
Our times are tumultuous, and we need to race much faster to tackle fundamental common challenges.
The climate crisis has burned through another record, with 2024 likely to be the hottest year in history.
We see the impacts everywhere. Look no further than the drought in the Amazon and horrible floods in southern Brazil.
Meanwhile, conflicts are raging.
Impunity is spreading, with repeated violations of international law and the UN Charter.
Inequality is growing, and progress on poverty and hunger has stalled.
The Sustainable Development Goals are off-track.
New technologies have unprecedented potential for good — and bad.
And our inability to tackle these challenges and more is eroding peoples’ faith in governments and institutions.
The threats we face today are interconnected and international.
But global problem-solving institutions desperately need an upgrade — not least the Security Council, which reflects the world of 80 years ago.
In September, UN Member States adopted the Pact for the Future, to help strengthen multilateralism and advance the Sustainable Development Goals.
I have come to Rio with a simple message:
G20 leaders must lead.
G20 countries – by definition – have tremendous economic clout. They wield massive diplomatic leverage.
They must use it to tackle key global problems.
First — on peace.
As wars grind on, people are paying a horrible price.
We must step up for peace.
Peace in Gaza – with an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages, and the beginning of an irreversible process towards a two-State solution.
Peace in Lebanon — with a ceasefire and meaningful steps towards implementing Security Council resolutions in full.
Peace in Ukraine — by following the UN Charter, UN resolutions and international law.
Peace in Sudan — by leaders leaning on the warring parties to end the horrific violence and desperate humanitarian crisis being unleashed on civilians.
Everywhere, peace requires actions grounded in the values of the UN Charter, the rule of law, and the principles of sovereignty, political independence and the territorial integrity of States.
Second — finance.
Vulnerable countries face tremendous headwinds and obstacles that are not of their making.
They aren’t getting the level of support that they need from an international financial architecture that is outdated, ineffective and unfair.
The Pact for the Future calls for ambitious reforms to make the system more representative of today’s global economy and the needs of developing and vulnerable countries.
This includes expanding the voice and representation of developing countries in international financial institutions.
The Pact also calls for substantially increasing the lending capacity of Multilateral Development Banks to make them bigger, bolder and better…
For effective action on debt relief, and reviewing the debt architecture to enable countries to borrow with confidence…
Strengthening the global financial safety net to ensure all countries are protected when shocks hit…
And promoting more inclusive tax cooperation… and expanding all forms of innovative finance – putting a price on carbon and levies on different forms that will eliminate pollution.
The global community is looking to the G20 to deliver on these agreements.
Third — climate.
I am concerned about the pace of the negotiations at COP29 in Baku.
Countries must agree to an ambitious climate finance goal that meets the scale of the challenge faced by developing countries.
An ambitious and credible goal is crucial for building trust between developed and developing countries and incentivizing the preparation of high ambition national climate plans next year.
Finance fuels ambition.
I will appeal to the sense of responsibility of all G20 countries.
Now is the time for leadership by example from the world’s largest economies and emitters.
Failure is not an option.
A successful outcome at COP 29 is still within reach, but it will require leadership and compromise, namely from the G20 countries.
And it cannot come soon enough.
Countries’ current climate policies are pushing us to a disastrous 3.1 degree temperature rise by the end of the century.
To avoid the very worst of future climate catastrophe – we must limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
And so emissions must be cut by 9 per cent a year to 2030 – but yet they are still rising.
The spotlight is naturally on the G20. They account for 80 percent of global emissions.
They must lead with national climate plans that follow the guidance they agreed to last year – 1.5 degrees aligned, whole of the economy and all greenhouse gases.
The recent announcements from two G20 members -Brazil and the UK – represent an important start.
The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities must be respected — but all G20 countries must make an extra effort.
And developed countries must support emerging economies and developing countries – with technology and finance.
Developed countries must keep their promises to double adaptation finance. And we need significant contributions to the new Loss and Damage Fund.
As Brazil prepares to host next year’s COP30, I am working closely with President Lula on a global mobilization effort to secure the highest levels of ambition from all countries, and especially the G20.
I am pleased we will discuss these issues in detail with G20 leaders on Tuesday.
We must also fight the coordinated disinformation campaigns impeding global progress on climate change, ranging from outright denial to greenwashing to harassment of climate scientists.
The Global Digital Compact adopted at the UN Summit of the Future includes the first universal agreement on artificial intelligence governance that brings every country to the table.
It calls for an independent international Scientific Panel on AI and initiating a global dialogue on its governance within the United Nations.
And it requests options for innovative voluntary financing for AI capacity-building in developing countries within the next year.
So, Ladies and gentlemen of the media,
Many challenges, but also many possible solutions. The G20 must lead by example.
This is fundamental to restoring trust, credibility, and legitimacy of every government and our global system in these turbulent times.
We need to seize every opportunity to lead transformative action for a safer, more peaceful and sustainable world.
I am at your disposal for a few questions.
Per maggiori informazioni clicca qui.
Consulta anche la pagina ufficiale di G20.