The climate agenda remains strong within the Group of 20 (G20) despite fears that US president-elect Donald Trump could pursue protectionist policies and strategies beneficial to fossil fuels when he takes over at the White House on January 20.
The US takes over the presidency of the grouping from SA and Trump is expected to attend the G20 summit next November in Johannesburg when the president officially changes hands.
Speaking after the first G20 sherpas’ meeting to lay the political groundwork for SA’s presidency, department of international relations and co-operation director-general Zane Dangor said the Trump presidency was not formally discussed.
The G20’s sherpas are the personal representatives of member countries’ leaders and oversee negotiations and discuss the points that form the summit’s agenda and co-ordinate most of the work.
Dangor, who chaired the two-day meeting in Sandton, Johannesburg, said should any matters arise after Trump’s inauguration in January “the sherpas remained ready to deal with them”.
He said his US counterpart has so far rallied behind SA’s G20 priorities including the climate change agenda.
“We will be able to [see] that after January 20 and in the months after that. As it stands, the climate change agenda remains strong within the G20,” he said. “G20 members were more focused on how to drive the climate agenda but were aware of a potential challenge [the coming Trump presidency].
Over the next two days the finance track of G20 members, led by the National Treasury and the Reserve Bank, will hold two-day meetings on how SA’s presidency of the forum of the world’s largest economies can be used to push for reform of the global financial architecture.
Priorities for SA’s presidency include strengthening disaster resilience, ensuring debt sustainability and mobilising funds for a just energy transition.
There was widespread consensus among sherpas of the need for open trade and the doing away with protectionism, said SA sous-sherpa, Xolisa Mabhongo.
A report released by the World Trade Organisation in November shows that there has been an increase in trade-restrictive measures introduced by G20 members from mid-October 2023 to mid-October 2024.
G20 economies introduced 91 new trade-restrictive and 141 trade-facilitating measures on goods, mostly imports, the report states.
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