Hope for G20 to be more ambitious on climate action fading

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled Our Changing Planet to show and explain the effects of climate change and what is being done about it.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday the G20 needs a sense of "urgency" to address the growing threat of climate change, as the leaders' summit kicked off its second day with a session on climate action.

"Climate change cannot be denied," he said on Twitter. "And climate action cannot be delayed. Working together with our partners, we need to tackle this global crisis with urgency and ambition."

But negotiators working through the night did not appear to have made much headway on securing agreement to phase out coal power more quickly or hastening plans to get to net zero emissions.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the G20 summit host, made a last-ditch effort to urge the leaders of the world's biggest economies to accept the reality of the situation.

"We face a simple choice," he told leaders at the table. "We can act now or regret it later."

Repeated attempts for Trudeau and Draghi to have a bilateral meeting in Rome were scuttled by time limitations. Saturday's planned meeting was cancelled by Italy because Draghi was running too far behind. On Sunday, the rescheduled meeting was first on, then off because the morning climate session went long.

Another round of rescheduling and cancellation then took place when Trudeau's scheduled meeting with Argentine President Alberto Fernandez interfered.

Canada did get some positive feedback on its climate policies from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. According to Canadian officials, Merkel told Trudeau it was bold to introduce a carbon price as an oil-producing country.

Von der Leyen met with Trudeau for a one-on-one discussion Sunday morning at his hotel.

"I want to thank you for being such a strong, dedicated ally in the fight against climate change," she told him. "I think this is the topic of not only today, but also the century, of maximum importance."

The United Nations reiterated warnings this week that with the current policies promised by parties to the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the Earth will warm more than 2.7 C by the end of this century.

The Paris accord aimed to keep the temperature below 2 C and as close to 1.5 C as possible. The G20 was debating how to reword that target to make 1.5 C more critical.

"Scientists tell us that under current policies, the consequence of climate change for the environment and the world's population will be catastrophic," Draghi said. "The cost of action, however high it may seem, is trivial compared to the price of inaction."