NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped up on Sunday a G20 summit that played down deep divisions over the war in Ukraine and climate change, but gave him a moment in the diplomatic spotlight.

G20 nations have been riven over the Ukraine war since Moscow’s invasion last year, with Russian President Vladimir Putin skipping the summit entirely to dodge political opprobrium.

Leaders of the Group of 20, which brings together Russia and China as well as some of Ukraine’s most ardent backers, have recently struggled to agree on much, in particular about the 18-month-old invasion.

Facing a major diplomatic embarrassment, host India pressed members to agree a common statement on Saturday that denounced the use of force for territorial gain, but shied away from direct criticism of Russia.

Leaders fail to agree to phase out fossil fuels

Kyiv said the G20 had “nothing to be proud of” but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who stood in for Putin at the meeting, on Sunday claimed a diplomatic win.

“We were able to prevent the West’s attempts to ‘Ukrainise’ the summit agenda,” the veteran diplomat said, dubbing the two-day gathering a “success”. “The text doesn’t mention Russia at all.”

On Sunday, Modi formally closed the summit by passing on a ceremonial gavel to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country will take the bloc’s presidency in December.

“We cannot let geopolitical issues sequester the G20 agenda of discussions,” Lula said, an implicit reference to wrangling over the Ukraine war.

“We have no interest in a divided G20. We need peace and cooperation instead of conflict.” Indian civil servant Amitabh Kant wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the compromise text on Ukraine had involved “over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings (and) 15 drafts”.

But despite meeting in what the EU’s climate monitor says is likely to be the hottest year in human history, the leaders failed to agree to a phase-out of fossil fuels, despite a UN report a day earlier deeming the drawdown “indispensable” to achieving net-zero emissions.

Instead, they backed a target of tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030, while committing only to a “phasedown” of coal “in line with national circumstances”.

G20 members Russia and Saudi Arabia are major oil exporters, while coal consumption is rising in China and India, already the world’s biggest consumers of the dirty fuel.

The climate outcomes were “insufficient”, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, saying the world must “phase out coal very rapidly and much more quickly than today”.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2023