G20 Summit & Climate Change

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Why in news?

 The G20 Summit 2021 was held, which was hosted by Italy in October 2021. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

Objectives:

• The 2021 G20, under the Italian Presidency, will focus on three broad, interconnected pillars of action: People, Planet, and Prosperity.

Key points:

• Leaders committed to the key Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
• The leaders made a commitment to reach carbon neutrality by or around mid-century.
• They agreed to stop funding new dirty coal plants abroad by the end of 2021.
• They also pledged to reach a target of net zero carbon emissions “by or around mid-century”, instead of setting a clear 2050 date, as campaigners and summit host Italy were hoping for.
• They approved on an agreement that will subject multinationals to a minimum 15 percent tax, as part of an effort to build “a more stable and fairer international tax system”.
• Strengthen the WHO on Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Covid-19 vaccines.
• Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi led the Indian delegation at the Summit.
• India highlighted the need for resilient global supply chains and invited G-20 countries to make India their partner in economic recovery and supply chain diversification.
• India also lauded the G-20's decision to come up with a 15-percent minimum corporate tax to make the global financial architecture “more just and fair”.
• India welcomed the European Union's Indo-Pacific strategy and French leadership in it.

Carbon neutrality:

• Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal or by eliminating emissions from society.
• India’s Net Zero target of 2070 silences its critics but it is along expected lines

Additional Information:

What is G - 20?

• The G20 is the international forum that brings together the world's major economies.
• Its members account for more than 80% of world GDP, 75% of global trade and 60% of the population of the planet.
• The forum has met every year since 1999 and includes, since 2008, a yearly Summit, with the participation of the respective Heads of State and Government.
• The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the European Union.

Members:

 The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, and the US.

How G-20 Works?

• The G-20 does not have a permanent secretariat.
• Its agenda and activities are established by the rotating presidencies, in cooperation with the membership.
• A “Troika” represented by the country that holds the presidency, its predecessor and its successor works to ensure continuity within the G-20.

Exclusive Economic Zone:

• Each coastal state may claim an EEZ beyond and adjacent to its territorial sea that extends seaward up to 200nm from its baseline.
• Within it EEZ, a coastal state has: Soverign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, and managing natural resources.
• Rights to carry out activities like the production of energy from the water, currents and winds.
• It does not give a coastal state the right to prohibit or limit freedom of navigation or overflight.