NAPLES, 25 July 2021, (TON): Italy’s Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani said “energy and environment ministers from the Group of 20 rich nations have failed to agree on the wording of a key climate change commitment in their final communique.”

The G20 meeting was seen as a decisive step ahead of United Nations climate talks, known as COP 26, which takes place in 100 days’ time in Glasgow in November.

The failure to agree to common language ahead of that gathering will be seen as setback to hopes of securing a meaningful accord in Scotland.

Cingolani told reporters that ministers meeting in southern Italy could not agree on two disputed issues and that these would now have to be discussed when G20 heads of state and government hold a summit in Rome in October.

He said negotiations with China, Russia and India had proved especially difficult.

Cingolani said “one of the sticking points was phasing out coal power, which most countries wanted to achieve by 2025 but some said would be impossible for them.”

The other problem concerned the wording surrounding a 1.5-2 degree Celsius limit on global temperature increases that was set by the Paris Agreement.