Secretary-General's remarks to the virtual G20 Summit

Excellencies, greetings from Santiago de Chile where I arrived yesterday on my way to a climate change related visit to the melting Antarctica before COP28. 

Prime Minister Modi, thank you for bringing us together. 

I want to start by welcoming the agreement reached by Israel and Hamas, with the mediation of Qatar supported by Egypt and the United States. This is an important step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done to end the suffering.  

The United Nations will mobilize all its capacities to support the implementation of the agreement and maximize its positive impact on the dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza.    

Our world — particularly developing countries — face a perfect storm.  

Growing inequalities. Climate chaos. Conflicts and hunger.  

Meanwhile, for many, fiscal space is tightening, with crushing debt burdens and skyrocketing prices.  

This is a recipe for global instability and suffering.  

G20 members can help lead the way in three areas.   

First — financial justice.  

I commend the G20’s support for the SDG Stimulus.  

I am establishing a Leaders Group to monitor the implementation of the SDG Stimulus to enable $500 billion in additional long-term development finance.   

Second — structural justice.  

We must keep working to reform today’s outdated, dysfunctional and unfair global financial architecture.   

And I commend the G20’s work to reform multilateral development banks, and Brazil’s focus on global governance under its presidency.   

We need to see practical solutions tabled at next September’s Summit of the Future in the General Assembly of the United Nations. 

Third — climate justice.  

COP 28 is around the corner.   

I urge the G20 to deliver an ambitious, credible and just outcome to keep 1.5 degrees within reach and protect people on the frontlines.   

This means getting the loss and damage fund up-and-running with early pledges, delivering all promised financial support, tripling renewables capacity, doubling energy efficiency, and bringing clean power to all by 2030.   

It also means phasing-out fossil fuels, with a clear timeframe aligned to the 1.5-degree limit.  

Excellencies,  

People are suffering. Our world is hurting and our planet is burning.   

India’s G20 Presidency reminded us that we are one earth and one family with one future. 

So let’s act like it.  

Thank you.