{"id":68703,"date":"2020-11-23T15:34:44","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T15:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadialogue.net\/?p=68703"},"modified":"2021-02-15T09:57:13","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T09:57:13","slug":"g20-stimulus-plans-favouring-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/g20-stimulus-plans-favouring-fossil-fuels\/","title":{"rendered":"G20 stimulus plans favouring fossil fuels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last year was the first in which climate policies, rather than shocks like the 2007-09 financial crisis, caused energy-related CO2 emissions to fall in G20 countries. Emissions fell by 0.1%, compared with a 1.9% growth in 2018 and the longer-term annual average growth rate of 1.4% between 2005 and 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, governments\u2019 Covid-19 recovery responses risk reversing, instead of locking in, these positive trends. At least 19 of the G20 countries have provided financial support to their domestic fossil fuel sectors, 14 countries bailed out their national airlines without attaching climate conditions, while seven provided unconditional support to the automobile industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These were the key findings of this year\u2019s Climate Transparency report<\/a>, an assessment of G20 countries\u2019 performance on tackling climate change by a collaboration of think-tanks and campaign organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

53.5%<\/p>

of the G20\u2019s $393-billion stimulus for the energy sector has gone to fossil fuels<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Previously known as the Brown to Green Report, the annual review is compiled by analysis of the latest data sets such as those by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), World Bank, and International Energy Agency. It analyses G20 performance on climate adaptation, mitigation and finance against benchmarks for keeping global temperature rise within 1.5C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found that before the pandemic hit, progress was being made due to various climate policies, such as renewable energy targets, coal phase-outs, carbon pricing, restriction of financial support for fossil fuels, and national green finance strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, 2019 saw coal consumption fall by 2%, while CO2 emissions from the power sector fell by 2.4%, and energy-related agricultural emissions by 0.5%. Renewables grew to 27% of power generation, up from 25% in 2018, with the proportion of power generated from renewable sources increasing in 19 of the G20 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though emissions from buildings, transport and industry continued to rise (by 0.9%, 1.5% and 1.2% respectively) the researchers still described the progress as \u201ca remarkable departure\u201d from previous emission growth trends. Looking at this year, restrictions put in place to curb the pandemic saw emissions fall by an estimated 7.5% in G20 countries compared with 2019, with global aviation emissions collapsing. However, they have already rebounded in many places, and even surged past 2019 levels in some countries, such as China, where emissions in May were 4.5% higher year on year, according to research cited by the report<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n