World leaders to focus on climate, covid & economy

The heads of the world's 20 biggest economies kicked off two days of talks on Saturday where they were set to acknowledge the existential threat of climate change, but stop short of radical new commitments to tame global warming.

A draft communique shows major countries are only likely to slightly toughen previous pledges on climate action, while failing to set tough new targets that activists say are vital to prevent environmental catastrophe.

However, more progress was made on other fronts, with the leaders endorsing a minimum tax agreement that all countries can collect from corporations from 2023 - a landmark deal aimed at stopping big business from parking profits in tax havens. Leaders were also expected to back plans to vaccinate 70% of the world's population against Covid-19 by mid-2022 and create a task force to fight future pandemics.


"From the pandemic, to climate change, to fair and equitable taxation, going it alone is simply not an option," Italian prime minister Mario Draghi told the start of the meeting being held in a glass and steel conference centre, known as "The Cloud". The G20 bloc, which includes Brazil, China, India, Germany and the US, accounts for more than 80% of the world's gross domestic product, 60% of its population and an estimated 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Many of the G20 leaders will fly straight to Glasgow for the start on Monday of the UN's climate summit, known as COP26.