The strangest aspect of the G20 communiqué, and the part that has dominated media coverage, is the
section on the Paris climate agreement.
The strangeness arises not because of the topic – the G20 has always
played second fiddle to the UN on climate issues – but because, for the first
time, a whole paragraph is devoted solely to one member, the USA, explaining
why it doesn’t agree with the others, followed by a paragraph by the others
explaining why they will go ahead without the USA anyway, including through
agreeing a “G19” action
plan on energy and climate for growth. The climate change issue is a jarring symbol of the G20’s
difficulty in reaching agreement. However, the Trump administration’s ‘America
first’ stance and resulting
lack ...