G20 summit leaders’ consensus on energy transition unlikely

The just energy transition may be one of the main issues countries at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brazil fail to reach a consensus on, with several countries still reliant on fossil fuels in their energy mix, an international relations expert said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa touched down in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday and is on Monday expected to deliver South Africa’s statements at the respective plenary sessions on the fight against hunger and poverty and later on the reform of the institutions of global governance.

The Rio G20 Leaders’ Summit is being held under the theme Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet.

South Africa will this year also officially be handed the G20 Presidency during the Rio Leaders’ Summit.

The presidency said: “South Africa's participation in the G20 is guided by the four strategic foreign policy pillars of advancing national interests to attain domestic objectives; enhancing the African agenda and promoting

Africa’s sustainable development; South-South Cooperation and influencing the global multilateral architecture by advancing the agenda of the South through North-South Dialogue.

South Africa’s participation in the G20 therefore seeks to provide strategic direction in establishing a more equitable, representative and fit-for-purpose international order, in support of the main multilateral processes under the United Nations.”

International relations expert Dr Kingsley Makhubela said the summit agenda this year was elaborate and would be divided into sections, the first being fighting inequality, international tax, food security, among others.

The second section would deal with mobilisation against climate change and a just energy transition, among others.

“You can see the manner in which the agenda is framed, the last part of the summit, is the most difficult thing, they are unlikely to get an agreement on energy efficiency and a just transition. So many countries are dependent on fossil fuels. They are opposed to doing away with fossil fuels completely,” he said.

However, he added that prudent issues the summit did not deal with included the growing global debt and ongoing global conflicts.

“The growing global debt sits at $317 trillion, of which the national debt is $117 trillion dollars. It is a huge debt burden on future generations and the summit should have dealt with this. Global instability is also not being dealt with. The host country is skilfully avoiding dealing with controversial issues, which they are unlikely to get a consensus on. However, these are issues confronting our world. Even if we dig our heads in the sand, the instability continues. We speak about food insecurity but not about how much is being spent on the military around the world,” Makhubela said.

Policy analyst Nkosikhulule Nyembezi added that this year’s meeting will take place during one of the trickiest periods for G20 relations, as many countries held elections that “dramatically affected domestic and international politics while creating uncertainties about the immediate intentions of some countries”.

“There are questions about whether this year’s G20 may deliver more style than substance on the priority issues of the day relating not just to the wars in Ukraine and Israel but also to debt relief, renewable energy, climate change and minerals.The G20 meeting must also prioritise discussing debt relief as developing countries cannot implement protective measures on climate change and peace-building while struggling with debt servicing costs pushed higher by interest rate rises and slow-performing economies,” Nyembezi said.

He said in terms of South Africa's role, the country could remain a unifying global player that mobilises for greater involvement of African nations. “An early test should come with promoting a broad political commitment to forging solutions to shared challenges in a multipolar world where the G20 should be a critical pillar of multilateralism and international cooperation, as a platform created to tackle problems that no one country or group of countries can tackle alone.”

Cape Times