In the end, it was the side notes that prevented French President Emmanuel Macron’s climate and poverty summit, announced with much fanfare, from going down in the history books as a complete failure. For two days in Paris, top representatives from more than 100 countries had been struggling to come up with concepts that should enable the countries of the Global South to cope with the financial consequences of climate change – a problem that mainly affects the 20 leading industrialized and emerging countries in the world (G20) got involved.
In the end, however, there were no new, reliable financial commitments from the G-20 heads of government, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, or concrete decisions on reforming the World Bank and other development banks, on whose support the poorer countries are urgently dependent.
A few signals are encouraging
And yet, beyond the window speeches, the summit sent out a few encouraging signals. The government of the badly battered Republic of Zambia, for example, reached an agreement with its state creditors to reschedule liabilities to the equivalent of 5.8 billion euros. The agreement is also a success because it came about for the first time as part of the G20’s Common Framework initiative. It not only includes the traditional donor states of the West, but also new creditors such as China and India, who first have to learn that they are now the ones who should forego money.
The Zambia agreement could thus become a model for a good 70 other poor countries groaning under debts totaling 300 billion euros. According to the International Monetary Fund, more than half of them are at risk of national bankruptcy.
Scholz, Macron and Senegalese President Macky Sall also agreed on an energy partnership with other international partners, which should bring the African country 2.5 billion euros in public and private funds for the energy transition over the next three to five years. Conversely, Senegal has committed itself to more climate protection and wants to increase the share of renewable energies from the current 30 to around 40 percent by 2030. Investments in the energy transition are also poverty reduction and development opportunities, said Development Minister Svenja Schulze.
“Governments always agree on the climate”
Despite such small successes, there was also clear criticism of Macron, even in G-20 circles. It makes little sense to convene such a summit as long as the rich countries do not agree on new, additional aid. It was said that this would only lead to anger and disappointment in the countries of the South.
And not only with them: The many activists who protested in Paris on Thursday and Friday against what they saw as the ignorant attitude of the rich countries once again showed their frustration – including Camille Etienne, a prominent French eco-fighter, Greta Thunberg, the inventor of the climate school strike, as well as hundreds of others, mostly young women, from all continents. “The governments always agree on the climate,” said the German Luisa Neubauer. “Macron or Scholz say in speeches how important they find it. Then they do nothing. That’s why we use specific projects to draw attention to the fact that green words are not followed by green deeds.”
Very specific sentences were heard in the Théâtre du Châtelet, to which the activists had been shunted, a 20-minute walk from the summit site, the chic Palais Brongniart, allegedly for security reasons. Ineza Grace from Rwanda reported 100 deaths from floods in her home country, from villages that were washed away. Helena Gualinga from Ecuador talked about the endangered indigenous peoples in the Yasuní National Park and the companies that produce oil there, Vanessa Nakate about the fight against the Eacop pipeline that the French energy company Total is planning in Uganda. “Our survival is non-negotiable.” “No more false promises.” “The polluters should pay, not those who suffer.” “The motto must be: People first. Always!” The slogans were something like this.
“This crisis is escalating on many levels”
In the venerable theater, the women spanned a panopticon of exploitation and greed, painting the picture of a West that, despite all lip service, has not seriously stopped stealing resources from other parts of the world. What remained were people who would have to suffer the most from climate change, which they did not cause.
Thunberg left the floor to her fellow campaigners as far as possible – and then went on to one of her accusations: “This crisis is escalating on many levels (…) We have science, truth, morality and justice on our side. But be punished those who set off the fire alarms instead of those who fan the fire.” The fact that Macron’s government had decided to dissolve the radical French environmental movement “Les soulèvements de la terre” (Uprisings of the Earth) caused particular outrage in the hall. This week of all days.
Anyway, Macron. Neubauer complained that he simply let the oil multinational Total, this “particularly hostile” group, do its thing. Climate change is also about social justice, says another activist. “They can hold as many summits as they want. Unless they stand up for the marginalized, anywhere in the world, it’s worth nothing.”