The Energy Transition ministerial under India’s G20 Presidency concluded with no joint communique. In addition to other significant tracks such as finance and agriculture, now energy transition has also failed to find a clear consensus on all issues raised by the G20 nations.
One of the major sticking points was the language around the Russia-Ukraine war. This paper reported Russia wanted the G20 communique to mention a paragraph on the destruction of its gas pipelines that have jeopardised its energy security.
Union Minister for Power and Renewable Energy R K Singh, however, said it was one of the more successful conferences in G20. “We had complete agreement on 22 out of 29 paragraphs, 7 paragraphs constitute the Chair summary,” he said.
A chair summary as the name suggests summarises the suggestions of all member nations. It is issued when a consensus is not achieved. An outcome document summarises the various positions which were noted by the G20 and the member nations will work further in the direction.
The Outcome Document issued at the end of the deliberations reiterated the positions of the countries stated in the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly. The document did not add any further statement, leaving the security-related matter out of the purview of the meeting, it said.
“Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy – constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks. There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions. Recognizing that the G20 is not the forum to resolve security issues, we acknowledge that security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy,” said the outcome document.