India led rich, intense discussion on MDB reforms critical for climate action: G20 negotiators

New Delhi: India on Friday said there has been "very rich" and "intense" discussion during its G20 presidency on multilateral development bank reforms which are critical for climate action and achieving sustainable development goals.

Addressing a pre-Summit press briefing, India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said: "We wanted the world to take lead on green development in the context of climate action and climate finance... And because both SDGs (sustainable development goals) and climate action require finance, particularly for developing and emerging markets in the Global South, it is critical that we focus on the multilateral institutions of the 21st century. How to redesign and reform them?" "And our view was that the Global South, developing countries and emerging markets which has been a very key component of India's presidency must be able to get long-term financing and must be able to use new instruments for financing to drive both SDGs and climate finance," he said. On the issue of multilateral development banks (MDB) reforms, Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, said:

"There has been a very rich and intense discussion, and we are highly hopeful that the discourse over the past nine months will get a positive consideration from the leaders." Kant also said the joint declaration after the G20 Leaders' Summit will be seen as the voice of the Global South and developing countries. Earth's global surface temperature has risen by around 1.15 degrees Celsius. The CO2 spewed mostly by the developed countries into the atmosphere since the start of the industrial revolution is closely tied to it. In the business-as-usual scenario, the world is heading for a temperature rise of around 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

Climate science says the world must halve emissions by 2030 from the 2009 levels to limit global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius as compared to the pre-industrial levels to avoid extreme, destructive and likely irreversible effects of climate change. Developing countries argue that wealthier nations should take greater responsibility for emission reductions, given their massive historical emissions, and provide the necessary means of implementation, including finance and technology, to assist developing and vulnerable nations in transitioning to clean energy and adapting to climate change. At the Copenhagen UN climate talks in 2009, developed countries had promised to provide USD 100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing countries combat climate change.

The failure to deliver this commitment at successive climate talks has eroded trust. According to the latest assessment of delivery plans, the USD 100 billion commitment will be met only in 2023, three years past the target date, and only then mainly because of increased financing from the MDBs. Bilateral public finance, which is the most important indicator of the direct contribution by developed countries, has not increased measurably since 2016 and there remain important shortfalls in its quality.

Experts also say the majority of the funding allocated to developing countries to address the effects of climate change and achieve their climate objectives is provided in the form of loans or investments, rather than grants, which means countries have to pay it back. This is a problem because the countries that need the money the most can't afford to pay it back.

During the 2011-20 period, merely about 5 percent was disbursed as grants, while the remainder constituted loans or equity. Notably, 75 percent of all climate finance throughout the decade centered in North America, Western Europe, East Asia, and the Pacific. According to data from the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), an independent climate policy organization headquartered in San Francisco, regions housing the majority of low and middle-income countries received less than 25 percent of climate finance flows.

In its G20 presidency, India has been focusing on various issues such as inclusive growth, digital innovation, climate resilience and equitable global health access. The G20 member countries represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, 80 percent of emissions, over 75 per cent of the global trade and about two-thirds of the world population. The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union