G20 ends with call for urgent action on climate, global health, women’s rights

Brazil wrapped up the annual G20 summit of major industrialised and developing economies in Brazil on Tuesday with a focus on sustainable development and the transition to renewable energy.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the assembled delegates that member countries have to step up their game on global governance, health security, women’s empowerment and the equitable spread of technology.

“We worked hard,” he said. “But we only scratched the surface of the deep challenges that the world has to face.”

Lula’s call for more aggressive climate change action comes as leaders meet in Azerbaijan for COP29, the 29th annual meeting of the UN Conference of the Parties founded in 1995. Brazil is slated to host COP30 next year.

“Few of us imagined three decades later we would witness the hottest year in history, with floods, droughts and hurricanes becoming more and more frequent,” Lula told G20 leaders, whose countries are responsible for 80 per cent of the world’s emissions. “We need to do more and better.”

Speaking at Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Modern Art, where the conference was based, Lula touted Brazil’s own record and urged others to follow suit.