No G20 country qualifies as a “climate leader”: Global South index

While India and South Africa have made notable efforts in climate action, developed countries like the US, Australia, and Russia show limited efforts, with concerns about inconsistent engagement in key agreements, says the new report

According to a new report, most G20 members—including countries such as the US, Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey—need to significantly step up climate action.

A new report by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), uses the Climate Accountability Matrix to rank climate action by G20 members. The matrix is an assessment tool from the Global South to analyse countries’ performance in climate aspects beyond mitigation, including adaptation and means of implementation. The countries were categorised under: leader, reasonable effort, limited effort, and needs improvement. 

The analysis showed that none of the G20 members currently qualify as leaders. The countries are broadly distributed among reasonable and limited efforts.

Global South making notable efforts

The matrix evaluated these nations based on 42 variables and five key themes: national measures, sectoral robustness, international cooperation, enablers, and climate adaptation initiatives. It considers the Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) and equity concepts.

According to the report, South Africa and India have made major contributions to climate action in the Global South by actively participating in important agreements, making reasonable domestic efforts, and upholding their commitments.

While South Africa exhibits robust domestic climate governance and climate disclosures, Brazil and India fare better than other developing nations in the renewables sector., the report said.

However, across all themes, significant economies that rely on fossil fuels, such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, fall into the limited-effort or need-improvement category.

France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany are among the developed G20 members that have made significant efforts, especially through international cooperation and the creation of comprehensive climate governance frameworks, the report said. 

However, concerns about the US, Australia, and Canada’s uneven participation in important climate agreements and their weak ambitions remain. 

 However, even the countries making reasonable progress must improve sectoral robustness and create an enabling environment for ambitious climate actions, the report said. 

COP29: Developed countries must step up 

Major developed countries such as the US and Canada have participated inconsistently in climate agreements during the pre-2020 period, and have weak ambitions. The report said that the developed world needs to accelerate its timelines for emission reductions and free up sufficient carbon space for developing countries to address their socio-economic development challenges.

The report said that no developed country has deposited 100% of the funds they pledged. Moreover, with the exception of France, Germany, and Japan, all developed countries are severely short of their fair share of contributions. The NCQG, getting negotiated at the COP29, should be anchored in qualitative and quantitative needs, with a target and structure that responds to lessons learned from the annual $100 billion goal and commitment to support nationally-led climate plans.

Developing countries bear the brunt of climate events and remain relatively less equipped to mitigate their impacts. The report said that mitigation receives almost thrice the amount of climate finance than adaptation and climate finance contributions must extend beyond mitigation to encompass robust efforts in adaptation and loss and damage. The establishment of a Fund for responding to Loss and Damage was a significant outcome of COP28. COP29 must answer ‘who pays’ and ‘who receives’ from the Loss and Damage Fund, the report said. 

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