15 April 2016: A communiqué issued by the Group of Twenty (G20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting calls for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to continue scaling up its operations, and stresses the importance of monitoring and transparency of climate finance. In the communiqué, the ministers and governors also give further guidance to the G20 Green Finance Study Group (GFSG) for its July 2016 report and reaffirm their commitment to rationalizing and phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.

The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors met from 14-15 April 2016, in Washington D.C., US, in parallel with the 2016 World Bank Group – International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings. In their communiqué, the ministers and governors caution that, while global economic recovery continues, “growth remains modest and uneven,” underpinned by financial volatility, challenges faced by commodity exporters and low inflation.

On climate change, the communiqué focuses on: support to the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change by developed countries, international organizations and other countries, including through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) financial mechanism operating entities; climate-related financial risk disclosures; monitoring and transparency of climate finance; and guidance to the GFSG.

On the operating entities, the communiqué welcomes the endorsement of the GCF Strategic Plan and calls for continued efforts by the GCF to the scale up its operations. On risk disclosure, the ministers and governors look forward to the final report of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TFCD) in early 2017.

Affirming the importance of monitoring and transparency of climate finance, they welcome the progress made by the GFSG in identifying challenges to mobilizing private capital for green investments, and ask the GFSG to finalize and report on its work at the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in July 2016. Specifically, the ministers and governors ask the GFSG to “develop more specific options for developing green banking, scaling-up the green bond market, supporting the integration of environmental factors by institutional investors, and developing ways for measuring progress of green financial activities.”

On related themes, the ministers and governors also reaffirm their commitment to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and to rationalizing and phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption, encouraging all G20 countries to participate in the voluntary peer review of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.

The GFSG held its third meeting in Washington D.C., on 12 April, focusing on the first draft of the group’s synthesis report due in July. The G20 members are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, the US, and the EU.

Also meeting in Washington D.C., on 14 April, the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development (G24), which coordinates developing countries’ position on monetary and development issues, issued a communiqué, in which the Group, inter alia: stresses the role of concessional finance in lowering the up-front costs of green investments; looks forward to a concrete roadmap from developed countries to providing US$100 billion per year by 2020 in climate finance; and calls for replenishing the Climate Investment Funds (CIF).

Member countries of the G24 are as follows (divided by region): (Africa) Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo; (Latin America and the Caribbean) Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela;(Asia): India, Iran, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Syria. [G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting Communiqué] [G20 Methodology for Voluntary Peer Reviews on Inefficient Fossil Fuel Subsidies] [GCF Press Release on G20 Meeting] [G20 Press Release on GFSG Meeting] [G24 Communiqué] [IISD RS Story on Spring Meetings] [IISD RS Implementation Update on Spring Meetings]