and climate change

1 CARE climate Changeand climate changetime to lead for a safer future2 SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATIONS 3 climate change DISRUPTS DEVELOPMENT 4G20 AND THE climate CRISIS 5 climate change DISRUPTS DEVELOPMENT C: THE RECORD WE MUST NOT BREAK 7G20 COUNTRIES: MAJOR HISTORICAL CONTRIBUTORS TO HARMFUL EMISSIONS 8 PROMOTE RENEWABLE ENERGY FOR climate & PEOPLE 9 EXTREME WEATHER HITS G20 AND CAUSES LOSSES 10G20 PREPARE FOR IMPACTS, BUT OTHER COUNTRIES ARE MORE VULNERABLE 11G20 FAIL TO STOP SUBSIDISING HARMFUL FOSSIL FUELS 12 climate change AND GENDER EQUALITY: MORE WORK AHEAD 13 DEVELOPED COUNTRIES IN G20 MUST INCREASE ADAPTATION FINANCE 14 RECOMMENDATIONS 15 REFERENCES 16 CONTENTS3 SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATIONSFour Key FactsFour Key ActionsG20 FEEL climate IMPACTS & ADAPTC limate impacts have already hit G20 countries, and analyses show they are not equally vulnerable nor prepared, but have started to adapt.

2 However, many poorer countries are more vulnerable with less capacity. climate change DISRUPTS DEVELOPMENT One of the greatest inequalities in the world is reflected in the causes and consequences of climate change . People living in poverty, in particular women and girls, who are the least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, bear the brunt of climate impacts. Without urgent action to limit warming to C and to scale-up adaptation efforts immediately, it could become impossible for poor people to secure their livelihoods and to reach a wide range of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). G20 CAN LEAD SHIFT TO 100% RENEWABLE ENERGYIn many G20 countries a renewable energy revolution has started, with falling prices helping to tackle energy poverty. This has opened up more mitigation potential to bring the world on a C and 100% renewable energy pathway, but G20 still subsidise fossil fuels at unacceptable ARE UNEQUALLY RESPONSIBLEG20 countries are responsible for more than 99% of historic carbon emissions.

3 While China and the US are the biggest current total emitters, US and the EU still remain the main polluters in a historic perspective since 1850, and India and Indonesia have the lowest per capita emissions. From this responsibility comes an obligation to act and support others, but the G20 action pledges are not yet sufficient, while some are worse than others. PROTECT THE POOR FROM climate RISKSThe G20 countries should commit to increasing the protection of the poor and vulnerable, in particular women and girls, against climate risks through proactive adaptation, pro-poor insurance approaches, and investing into social protection systems in vulnerable developing countries. Developed countries in the G20 need to ramp up adaptation and loss and damage finance to poor countries and cooperation with V20 countries and Africa needs to be RADICAL EMISSION REDUCTIONS TOWARDS C LIMITAll G20 governments should provide Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement with high ambition levels that are consistent with the C limit, backed up by mid-century strategies to be delivered by all G20 by 2018.

4 This should be complemented by concrete action initiatives which deliver additional emission reductions before 2020, in particular by accelerating the shift to 100% renewable GENDER EQUALITY & HUMAN RIGHTS IN climate ACTIONG20 countries should commit to fully promoting gender equality and human rights in all climate action. G20 countries should promise to regularly exchange experience and report on progress achieved in this regard (incl. in relation to the NDCs). They should also promise to support the adoption and implementation of a strong gender action plan under the OUT FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES & MAKE FINANCE SUSTAINABLEG20 must agree on the equitable, pro-poor phase out of all fossil fuel subsidies and should redirect these to sustainable sources of renewable energy and energy efficiency by 2020. G20 must cooperate to make financial investments sustainable and advance poverty-sensitive carbon pricing to invest into climate and SDG change DISRUPTS DEVELOPMENTCARE s FIVE KEY DEMANDS FOR climate JUSTICE1.

5 Governments must take concrete steps to put the C limit into practice and shift to 100% pro-poor renewable energies in an equitable Governments must scale-up support for gender-equitable, pro-poor adaptation to climate change impacts in developing countries to build Governments need to address the growing loss and damage from climate change impacts and scale-up finance for loss and Countries must promote sustainable, productive, equitable and resilient agriculture through domestic action and international cooperation on sustainable agriculture and food and nutrition Governments need to promote and respect gender equality and human rights in all climate living in poverty, who are the least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, bear the brunt of climate impacts.

6 CARE is already seeing how climate change is eroding and reversing development gains and exacerbating gender inequality and social and economic injustices across the world. climate change is increasingly affecting everything that CARE does and poses a significant threat to our vision of a world of hope, tolerance and social justice where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. Without urgent action, this could make it impossible for poor and marginalised people to reach a wide range of poverty eradication and sustainable development goals. CARE is already very active in helping communities adapt to the impacts of climate change and build resilience, and has produced a range of learning tools based upon its experiences, and engages in advocacy and communications. Globally, we have seen absolute record temperatures in 2015/2016 and the previous years.

7 In 2016, every month was hotter, globally, than previously, and saw the biggest jump in atmospheric CO2 Millions of people have been suffering across the globe from the impacts of climate change . For example, the El Ni o-driven drought, made worse by climate change , is exacerbating food insecurity, a strong indication of the severe climate adaptation and disaster preparedness gap. Globally, the number of people who are displaced from their homes, many of them due to extreme weather events, is unprecedented. This situation is regarded as the biggest humanitarian crisis since the 2nd world war. One of the greatest inequalities in the world is reflected in the causes and consequences of climate change which threatens the livelihoods of billions of people, especially women and girls. Wolfgang Jamann, CEO and Secretary General of CARE InternationalLucy Beck/CARE 5G20 AND THE climate CRISISThe G20, created in 1999, is comprised of 19 countries - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States - and the European Union.

8 As the world s largest emitters, responsible for over 80% of current greenhouse gas emissions and representing 85% of global GDP and 51% of the population, it is the responsibility of the G20 to lead the reduction of emissions though a transition to renewables and adequate climate Of course, within the group of countries the responsibilities vary, with different levels of cumulative historic and current emissions and different obligations under the UN climate change Convention. For example, current per capita emissions in the US and Canada are approximately 10 times higher than in As the Earth s temperature continues to increase, it is vital that the G20 countries commit to the mission of addressing and adapting to climate change and play a pivotal role in meeting the commitments to the Paris Agreement to prevent the global temperature from rising above countries have significant influence on the design and implementation of the global climate change regime.

9 The German G20 Presidency decided to put sustainable energy and climate change on the 2017 agenda, along with further work on advancing the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Vulnerable country groups, like the climate Vulnerable Forum/V20, have urged G20 to take more ambitious actions. The aim of this report is to dive deeper into the G20 s role in confronting climate change from the perspective of the poorest and most vulnerable, with a differentiated analysis recognising the block s diversity. It does so by analyzing various data sources, rankings and indices developed by other think tanks and scientific institutions in order to highlight which of the countries are performing well and which are not, as well as who needs to ramp up adaptive efforts based on risk and climate resilience. The report outlines the current G20 climate change picture and provides recommendations on key steps and agreements G20 countries need to take in Habich (CC BY-SA ) C: THE RECORD WE MUST NOT BREAKThe inclusion of the goal of pursuing efforts to limit global warming to C above pre-industrial levels in the Paris climate change Agreement was a major achievement from the perspective of vulnerable countries and civil society.

10 This must now be followed up with decisive, fast and ambitious action to reduce emissions. It is vital that countries strive to stay within the C limit, agreed upon in the Paris Agreement. According to various analyses, with current emission reduction plans on the table, the world is still heading for disaster with a projected temperature increase of ca. 3 or more However, the adverse impacts of climate change on the planet and people increase significantly beyond a C limit: Sea-levels will rise higher, heatwaves will become more common, and many agricultural yields are likely to be affected negatively (Figure 1).5 To prevent such a temperature increase, a quick and stringent reduction and long-term phase-out of emissions by shifting to renewable energies, decreasing consumption, and increasing sustainable investments is required.