BERLIN – 26 January 2017. Germany’s G20 Presidency offers a window of opportunity for raising ambition in climate action. The G20 can give a powerful signal for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. In particular, the G20 can take steps towards removing fossil fuel subsidies, adapt financial regulation to reflect climate risks and shift investments from fossil fuel to low carbon technologies.

The Brown to Green Forum discussed with high-level representatives and experts from G20 countries how to increase ambition for climate action in the G20. After the two keynote speeches of Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety and Ségolène Royal, French Minister of Environment, Energy and the Sea, the first panel explored different policy options within the G20. It particularly discussed the role of the financial sector to drive the shift from fossil-fuel to low-carbon investments. Thomas Courbe, Ministry for the Economy and Finance in France, emphasized the role of the G20 for the disclosure of climate-related financial risks, the expansion of a green bonds market and establishing a carbon price. Similarly, Christian Schubert, Vice President, BASF, and Deputy Chair B20 Taskforce Energy, Climate & Resource Efficiency, demanded a G20 carbon pricing platform. Eva Kracht, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, stressed the increasing interlinkages between the implementation of the Paris Agreement and economic growth as well as social justice. Jiang Kejun from Energy Research Institute in China spoke about the new role of China as international climate leader which the Chinese government had affirmed at the World Economic Forum in Davos one week before.

During the second part of the Forum, Gerd Leipold, Programm director of Climate Transparency, and Jan Burck, Germanwatch, presented credible, comparable and comprehensive data on the transition towards a low-carbon economy of G20 countries. Subsequently, Climate Transparency partners from different G20 countries compared national challenges and solution approaches: Andrew Marquard, Energy Research Centre, University of Cape Town, South Africa; William Wills, Centro Clima, Brazil; Swati Agarwal, The Energy and Resources Institute, India; Jorge Villarreal, Iniciativa Climática de Mexico, Mexico; Fabby Tumiwa, Institute for Essential Services Reform, Indonesia.

Ana Di Pangracio, Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales in Argentina, closed the Forum by presenting an outlook on climate change and the Argentinian G20 Presidency 2018.

The Brown to Green Forum was co-hosted by Climate Transparency, the French Embassy in Germany and the Stiftung Mercator.

Please find the Report of the Brown to Green Forum on the Climate Transparency Website.