JOHANNESBURG: A Group of 20 leaders’ summit in South Africa adopted a declaration addressing the climate crisis and other global challenges on Saturday (Nov 22) after it was drafted without US input in a move a White House official called “shameful”.
The declaration, using language to which Washington has been opposed, “can’t be renegotiated”, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson told reporters, reflecting strains between Pretoria and the Trump administration over the event.
“We had the entire year of working towards this adoption and the past week has been quite intense,” the spokesperson said.
Ramaphosa, host of this weekend’s gathering of Group of 20 leaders in Johannesburg, had earlier said there was “overwhelming consensus” for a summit declaration.
G20 envoys drew up a draft leaders’ declaration on Friday without US involvement, four sources familiar with the matter said.
The declaration used the kind of language long disliked by the Trump administration: stressing the seriousness of climate change and the need to better adapt to it, praising ambitious targets to boost renewable energy and noting the punishing levels of debt service suffered by poor countries.
