Brown to green: the G20 transition towards a low-carbon economy

15th November 2018

Brown to green: the G20 transition towards a low-carbon economy

To stay within the Paris Agreement temperature limit, G20 emissions need to be drastically reduced. A peak needs to be reached by around 2020 and carbon dioxide emissions need to decline to net zero by around 2050.

The Brown to Green Report is the world’s most comprehensive annual review of G20 climate action. The report draws on the latest emissions data from 2017 and covers 80 indicators on decarbonisation, climate policies, finance and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Providing country ratings, the research identifies who is leading and who is lagging behind on climate action in the G20. ODI led on the finance sections of the main report and case studies.

On finance, the authors find that G20 countries spend more money driving climate change than what they get from reducing it. Only two G20 economies – Canada and France – generate more income from carbon pricing schemes than they spend on fossil fuel subsidies, demonstrating that the G20 countries are yet to make financial flows consistent with the Paris Agreement.

Report by the Overseas Development Institute