G20 Rome, health and recovery at the summit: climate knot remains

“Nothing is agreed until evertything is agreed”. The old motto of diplomacy according to which ‘there is no agreement on anything until there is agreement on everything’ also applies to the negotiations in view of the G20 which open today in Rome, at the Nuvola at the Eur, until tomorrow, but the Italian presidency is confident. For days, the Sherpas have been working to agree on the final declaration of the summit: the main issue remains that of the climate, while the other points in the paragraphs concern the health response to future pandemics. As for the climate negotiations, while there is a common awareness on the part of the G20 leaders that this is an existential threat, on the other hand the positions – which reflect the different degrees of development of the countries present in the group – diverge as to the timing of achievement of the objectives. With most of the states, Italy in the lead, in favor of achieving carbon neutrality in 2050, while some, such as China and Saudi Arabia, for example, favor a deadline moved beyond, to 2060. In this context, where between Another indication of a specific target is something far from obvious, the important thing is that we arrive at a shared commitment to zero net emissions by the middle of the century and that the G20 find common ground to act to achieve and on this there seem to be encouraging signs for an agreement in Rome, which could in fact strengthen the work at COP26, the UN climate conference in Glasgow co-chaired by Italy and the United Kingdom, which will open the November 1st, the day after the G20. From which a great contribution could also come in terms of financing for the fight against climate change, in the awareness that most of the nearly 190 countries that signed the Paris agreements need a lot of money to manage the ecological transition towards a new development model. Meanwhile, at the Ministerial Energy and Climate of 23 July in Naples, it was recognized for the first time by the G20 that the impacts of a rise in global temperatures contained within the limit of 1.5 ° would be much lower than those linked to a rise of 2 degrees centigrade. The other two major topics of today’s and tomorrow’s summit will be health and sustainable development and how we should ‘take advantage’ of the pandemic to better rebuild our economies on the basis of national plans, which under different formats and definitions have been developed by all countries and to strengthen the response capacity to future pandemics And. In this case on the basis of the ‘One health’ principle, as approved at the Global Health summit in Rome last May, for which we must look at humans, animals and the environment as a single ecosystem. Finally, on the vaccine front, the strong commitment to increase their availability in the world will be reaffirmed, but there will be no new figures compared to what was agreed in May by the various countries at national level, by regional organizations such as the EU and by Big Pharma. for a total of about 1.3 billion doses to low- and middle-income countries. This does not mean that rich countries can necessarily be satisfied, but the problem does not only concern the availability of vaccines, but also their distribution and administration, because to do so safely there is a need for health and efficient systems. And in this the G20 will have a fundamental role in helping the countries that need it.