UNEP chief: G20 nations must increase financing for sustainable solutions

05 / 10 / 2024

By Marwa Nassar - -

Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Inger Andersen said G20 nations must dramatically increase financing for and investment in sustainable solutions. Decarbonize their economies at a far faster rate. Protect and restore their lands and nature, including by working with indigenous peoples. Tackle pollution of the air, land and water – starting with helping to deliver a strong instrument to end plastic pollution.

The world will not be fixed overnight, so the G20 must move away from independent cycles and ensure multiyear planning on environment and climate sustainability to create even stronger continuity between presidencies and ensure that the environment is also carried across working groups. A ‘whole of society’ approach needs to be echoed by a ‘whole of G20’ approach to the environment.

She made the remarks during the G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group.

“The G20, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the global economy, has the power to lift us out of this trouble. I see three immediate priorities for G20 nations to use their power and help set the world on the track to the meet the vision of the 2030 Agenda and the Pact for the Future, adopted by world leaders just a few weeks ago,” she said.

“At the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16), hosted by Colombia, we need to see progress on turning the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework commitments into action, including through resource mobilization and a strong financial mechanism. We will also need to land the specifics regarding benefit sharing in the implementation of digital sequencing information,” she underlined.

At the UN Climate Conference (COP29), led by Azerbaijan, the focus will be on delivering the new quantified goal on climate finance, on getting greater transparency through the biennial transparency reports and on setting the stage for enhanced NDCs in early 2025.

At UNCCD COP16, led by Saudi Arabia, the focus will be on how to integrate land degradation neutrality into national development plans and restore degraded lands by 2030, while also testing the grounds for a stronger multilateral pathway on droughts.

“These are hugely important moments in and of themselves. But we must remember that the triple planetary crisis is one crisis. Just as the Earth’s systems are indivisible, these conventions are indivisible. So, G20 nations must prioritize actions that bring benefits across the multilateral environmental conventions. We are talking about the land restoration agenda, which slows climate change, brings back nature and creates jobs. About phasing down fossil fuels and short-lived climate pollutants, which reduces emission, air pollution and damage to crops. About a global shift away from unsustainable consumption and production, the key driver of the triple planetary crisis, towards circularity. About reducing chlorinated gases, which positively impacts climate change and biodiversity. I could go on and on,” she highlighted.