Reacting to the G20 Summit’s conclusion in Osaka, Renato Redentor Constantino, Executive Director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities said:

“As G20 Chair, Japan’s failure to drive a stronger outcome in support of climate action exposed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s weak leadership in the global stage. Japan wasted its chance to decisively confront the climate emergency and leave behind a legacy of modernity. Instead, it meekly exits the stage bowed low to usher in Saudi Arabia’s climate of impunity.

“This weak legacy will inevitably taint Japan’s image on the road to hosting the 2020 Olympics where its leadership and environmental credentials will again be in the global spotlight. We are hopeful that Japan’s financial industry and some of its progressive government leaders will force a significant shift in Japan’s policies towards strong climate action.

“Far more worrying than Japan’s tainted image is that it will now be handing over the G20 chairmanship to Saudi Arabia, which has consistently resisted global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the latest UN climate talks, the Saudis undermined the scientific consensus on the 1.5C warming limit inscribed in the Paris Agreement.

“With a lack of universal sense of justice and with the Trump government enabling its impunity, it is fair to believe that under its chairmanship of the G20, Saudi Arabia will be further emboldened in its assault on the Paris climate treaty.

“The EU and China should reaffirm their commitment towards strong climate action to be able to neutralize the weak showing by Japan, and continued threats posed by Trump and his Saudi friends.”

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Useful facts:

477 investors with USD $34 trillion in assets urge G20 leaders to keep global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius
https://theinvestoragenda.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/G20-Global-Investor-Statement-on-Climate-Change.pdf

B) Saudi Aramco, the largest overall and oil company in the world, had earnings of about $US 224 billion last year and net profits after taxes, depreciation etc. of $US 111 billion. Twice the GDP of Uruguay. By far the largest of all companies in the world and about twice as high as the following giants of Apple and the Comm Bank of China.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-01/saudi-aramco-profit-dwarfed-the-biggest-global-companies-in-2018

Source photo: Alan Santos / PR