Bombay Durpun - G20 leaders talk climate, wars -- and brace for Trump's return

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, host of the Rio gathering, scored a first-day triumph by getting 82 countries to sign up to a Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty he launched.

President Joe Biden represented the United States at the meeting, but as a diminished figure, eclipsed by the impending return of Trump as America's leader in January.

Biden even missed a group photo of the leaders on Monday when he and the prime ministers of Canada and Italy turned up for it just after it had been taken.

In a joint summit declaration issued late Monday, the leaders did not give a major breakthrough to COP29 climate talks taking place concurrently in Azerbaijan.

They did not end a deadlock over which countries have to stump up climate financing, saying in a joint statement the money needed to come from "all sources."

But they did encourage developing nations represented in Baku by acknowledging that "trillions" of dollars -- not billions -- were needed to help them cope with global warming.

- 'Turbulence' -

The imminent return of Trump, though, was on many minds at G20 -- mixed in with the issues of climate change, an escalation in the war in Ukraine, and economic pressures that are dealing political instability in some democracies.

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that the world faced a new period of "turbulence" and there should be "no escalation of wars, and no fanning of flames."

European Council President Charles Michel said: "The world is on a knife edge."

Biden, responding to Russia now using North Korean troops in its invasion of Ukraine, has reversed US policy to allow Ukraine to use long-range US missiles to strike deep inside Russian territory.

Russia -- represented at the G20 by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and not President Vladimir Putin, who is wanted by an International Criminal Court -- has warned of an "appropriate response" if its territory is hit.

Against that backdrop, the summit statement welcomed "all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just, and durable peace" in Ukraine.

But, as with previous G20 gatherings, there was no mention of Russian aggression.

French President Emmanuel Macron praised the "good" move by Biden.

But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he would not be swayed by Biden's move and stood by his position to not give his country's sophisticated Taurus missiles to Kyiv.

- Gaza, Lebanon -

The conflicts raging in the Middle East, where Israel is waging offensives in Gaza and Lebanon, also preoccupied the G20, which called for "comprehensive" ceasefires in both territories.

Lula had his work cut out for him to steer discussions toward social agenda issues close to his left-wing stance, but managed by also garnering leaders' support for a bid to make billionaires pay more tax.

The summit statement included a pledge to "engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed," and to devise mechanisms to prevent them dodging tax authorities.

Yet that topic, along with references to regulating social media content and breaking gender norms, earned some resistance from Argentina's libertarian president Javier Milei, an ardent fan of Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk.

Milei did not block the summit statement but publicly declared his opposition to those points and others, such as increasing state intervention to combat hunger.

P.Mueller--BD