The Guardian (September 15)
“Every one of the world’s leading economies, including all the countries that make up the G20, is failing to meet commitments made in the landmark Paris agreement in order to stave off climate catastrophe, a damning new analysis has found.” With COP26 approaching, “none of the largest greenhouse gas emitting countries have made sufficient plans to lower pollution to meet what they agreed to in the 2015 Paris climate accord,” leaving the world “on track for 3C temperature increase if present trends continue.”
Tags: Climate catastrophe, Commitments, COP26, Failing, G20, GHG, Leading economies, Paris Agreement, Pollution
Reuters (December 4)
The “broadly positive headlines” from the G20 meeting “are only half the picture. For all the efforts to keep it on track, the meeting in Buenos Aires also served to showcase an alarming rise in the number of international differences.” To make matters worse, “a growing number of leaders appeared openly hostile or dismissive of each other. The primary diplomatic breakthrough of the summit—a joint declaration to reform the World Trade Organization—may simply be a precursor to more arguments.”
Tags: Breakthrough, Buenos Aires, Differences, Diplomatic, Dismissive, G20, Hostile, Joint declaration, Leaders, Positive, WTO Arguments
The Economist (July 6)
“Good economic news has begun to fall on Britain like drops of rain in the midst of a drought. The country is parched: revisions to GDP estimates released last week suggest that output is still 3.9% lower than its 2008 peak, a worse performance than any other G20 country except Italy. As confidence returns, it seems almost impolite to point out that the British economy still has a sickly core of weak investment, productivity and wages, and that hard policy decisions lie ahead.”
Tags: Confidence, Economy, G20, GDP, Investment, Italy, Output, Productivity, UK, Wages
New York Times (June 19)
Finally, the “leaders of the Group of 20 top economies managed to say some of the right things…. The question now is whether these words will ever translate into effective action. If the past two years of the euro crisis is any guide, the likely answer is no.” The Times places much of the blame with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel for a “relentless insistence on self-defeating austerity and piecemeal rescue plans.”
Finally, the “leaders of the Group of 20 top economies managed to say some of the right things…. The question now is whether these words will ever translate into effective action. If the past two years of the euro crisis is any guide, the likely answer is no.” The Times places much of the blame with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel for a “relentless insistence on self-defeating austerity and piecemeal rescue plans.”
Financial Times (November 7)
The growth of the G20 into a useful forum was “one of the few bright spots in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.” The world’s economic challenges remain, but the G20 appears to be stumbling. The Financial Times urges leaders in Seoul preserve this valuable forum. While cooperation through the G20 “cannot solve all the world’s problems, it can prevent a slide into protectionism.”
The growth of the G20 into a useful forum was “one of the few bright spots in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.” The world’s economic challenges remain, but the G20 appears to be stumbling. The G20 is not perfect, yet the Financial Times urges leaders in Seoul preserve this valuable forum. While cooperation through the G20 “cannot solve all the world’s problems, it can prevent a slide into protectionism.”
Tags: Cooperation, G20, Lehman collapse, Protectionism
