G20Voice

On Friday, I had the opportunity to listen to Pennsylvania Governor Rendell talk about Pennsylvania’s green initiatives. The governor addressed the bloggers and NGO representatives stationed at the August Wilson Center during the G20 in Pittsburgh.

On Friday afternoon, President Barack Obama formally announced that the world’s 20 major developed and developing nations had agreed to gradually eliminate fossil-fuel subsidies. It was the only climate-specific policy directive to come out of the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Pittsburgh, and it fell far short in the view of climate activists, who were hoping for a firm proposal on “climate finance”—G20 aid to poor nations for help in adapting to and mitigating climate change.

Climate activists were underwhelmed by what came out of this week’s Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh in the way of formal climate change commitments.
True, the heads of state of the 20 leading developed and developing economies agreed to phase out fossil fuel subsidies “in the medium term.” But they couldn’t come to a consensus on climate finance — aid from richer nations to poorer, directed at adapting to and mitigating the impacts of global warming.

What do Brazil, Mexico, China, India, and South Africa have in common? They’re all developing countries meeting in Pittsburgh this week that have plans for addressing their emissions and dealing with Climate Change.

President Obama will announce Friday that the once elite club of rich industrial nations known as the Group of 7 will be permanently replaced as a global forum for economic policy by the much broader Group of 20 that includes China, Brazil, India and other fast-growing developing countries, administration officials said Thursday.

What is the G-20 and why is it coming to Pittsburgh?
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Pittsburgh must encourage G-20 protests
Read Community Matters at http://www.examiner.com/x-14931-pittsburgh-public-policy-examiner