The leaders of the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro were significant as they reaffirmed their commitment to building a just world and a sustainable planet.

It is instrumental since it was in Rio that the Sustainable Development Agenda was birthed, marking a major stride toward addressing the pressing global challenges and crises.

The G20 leaders emphasized that time is of the essence; therefore, they are focused on promoting strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth.

Deliberations in this second week aim to attain the contentious New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), which remains elusive despite only a few days remaining until the end of COP29.

The forum opened in the Azerbaijani capital early Monday. Its main goal was to reach an agreement on scaling up finance to address the worsening impacts of global warming. G20 leaders expressed their anticipation of a successful NCQG outcome in Baku, as it would mark a significant achievement in the negotiations.

In their discussions, recognizing sustainable development as three-dimensional—cutting across economic, social, and environmental aspects—they urged collective action in response to crises. The planet, faced with the crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification, ocean and land degradation, drought, and pollution, must involve global cooperation for prosperity.

Affirming that climate change has become a global menace to people, ecosystems, and wildlife, G20 leaders pointed out their full support for the objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The support aims to ensure that climate change can be effectively tackled by strengthening the full implementation of the Paris Agreement, reflecting equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in light of different national circumstances.

G20 leaders showed support for the ambitious and balanced outcomes of the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai (COP28), particularly the UAE Consensus and its first Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement (GST-1).

They further outlined the evident need for urgent action to scale up, prioritize, and mainstream whole-of-society and whole-of-economy adaptation in response to the widespread, significant, and growing impacts of climate change.

According to Mr. Simon Stiell, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, leaders of the world’s largest economies must commit to driving forward financial reforms to enable strong climate action within all countries’ reach.

Mr. Stiell emphasized that “bluffing, brinksmanship, and premeditated playbooks” are wasting precious time and undermining the goodwill needed for an ambitious package. He noted that the stakes are too high for “an outbreak of ‘you-first-ism,’ where groups of parties dig in and refuse to move on one issue until others move elsewhere.”

He stated that the only way to get the job done is if parties are prepared to step forward in parallel, bringing them closer to common ground.

“Now is the time for leadership by example from the world’s largest economies and emitters. Failure is not an option,” said Mr. Stiell. He stressed that it is time for negotiators to cut the theatrics and get down to business, which would mean hammering out a new finance deal to compensate countries for climate-driven damages and to pay for a clean-energy transition.

In their communiqué, G20 leaders reiterated the essence of the Sustainable Finance Roadmap and welcomed the consensus achieved in the 2024 G20 Sustainable Finance Report. Recognizing the role of climate finance in effecting climate actions, they stressed the importance of optimizing the operations of vertical climate and environmental funds, aligning them with countries’ needs, priorities, and strategies to enhance national ownership and maximize the impact of investments.

“We encourage these funds to work together, take concrete steps to unlock their full potential and improve access, including through a common application and enhanced cooperation with MDBs and national development institutions. We underscore the importance of continuing the work on operationalizing just transitions, considering their economic, social, and environmental dimensions and local circumstances, and advancing work to address challenges to Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) financing,” the communiqué stated.

The G20 leaders also urged the acceleration of reforms to the international financial architecture so that it can meet the urgent challenges of sustainable development, climate change, and efforts to eradicate poverty.

“Platforms that are country-led, flexible, and well-adapted to national circumstances work as efficient instruments to mobilize both public and private capital to finance projects and programs in developing countries, helping match mitigation, adaptation, and resilience-building challenges with concrete flows of resources for just transitions,” the communiqué added.