On November 23, 2025, as the world’s most powerful leaders gathered in Johannesburg for the G20 summit, the mood inside the Nasrec Expo Centre was one of both urgency and defiance. With the climate crisis looming ever larger and the global political landscape more fractured than ever, the G20 nations—minus one conspicuous absentee—found themselves at a crossroads. The summit, hosted by South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, culminated in a joint statement that reaffirmed the world’s commitment to the Paris Agreement and set a course for more robust action on climate change. Yet, the absence of U.S. President Donald Trump, who not only declined to attend but actively urged leaders to reject the final declaration, cast a long shadow over the proceedings.
According to ABC News, the leaders of 19 of the world’s top economies signed onto the 30-page communique, strengthening their pledges to tackle climate change and support open trade. The only G20 member not present was President Trump, who, as Reuters reported, had described climate change as a “hoax” and was in the process of withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the declaration was pushed through by President Ramaphosa “despite consistent and robust US objections,” and signaled that the U.S. would focus on “restoring legitimacy to the G20” when it hosts the summit next year.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who signed the joint statement on behalf of his country, told reporters in Johannesburg, “It’s a very positive sign that the world wants to get on with cooperating and it’s a very positive statement going forward.” Asked whether the declaration was a direct repudiation of Trump’s policies, Albanese replied, “It’s about what the world has committed to: the Paris Agreement and to action on climate change. There is overwhelming support for action on climate change.”
The communique did more than just reaffirm old promises. It highlighted the daunting challenges facing developing countries as they strive to meet their emissions reduction targets—so-called “nationally determined contributions.” The statement underscored that these nations will require an estimated $5.8 to $5.9 trillion in funding before 2030 to fulfill their commitments. This frank acknowledgment of the financial realities of climate action was seen by many as a step toward greater transparency and accountability in the global fight against climate change.
While the G20 leaders were hammering out their statement in Johannesburg, Australia’s Energy Minister Chris Bowen was in Brazil, endorsing the Belém Declaration on the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels at the COP30 conference. The Belém Declaration, which Michael Poland from the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative described as “the strongest language on phasing out fossil fuels that Australia has ever supported,” calls for a roadmap to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. The declaration states, “Fossil fuels are the main drivers of global greenhouse gas emissions and that the projected CO₂ emissions from continued fossil fuel production, licensing, and subsidies are incompatible with limiting the temperature rise to 1.5°C.”
Despite this ambitious language, the Albanese government has made it clear that gas will remain a part of Australia’s energy mix “through to 2050 and beyond.” When asked if this was compatible with the Belém statement, Albanese said, “Yes. [Gas] is needed, it’s part of the transition which is occurring. What you need to back up renewables is firming capacity. Our position is the same today as it was yesterday.”
On the sidelines of the G20 summit, Albanese met with Germany’s chancellor and European Union leaders to push forward talks on a free trade deal, with hopes of settling the agreement in early 2026. He also met with Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who invited him to next year’s Anzac Day commemoration in Gallipoli. In a significant diplomatic move, Australia handed the hosting rights for the COP31 climate conference to Türkiye, with Chris Bowen set to take on the presidency—a move that resolves a years-long impasse over the summit’s location.
But while most G20 leaders were focused on multilateralism and climate action, President Trump was doubling down on a very different vision for America and the world. As detailed in a New York Times opinion piece published on November 22, 2025, Trump’s close relationship with the oil and gas industry has been transformative—and, some argue, deeply corrosive. In the months leading up to the G20, Trump scaled back environmental regulations and opened 1.3 billion more acres of coastal waters to drilling. He halted the largest solar project in North America, which was set to power nearly two million homes, and paused a $5 billion wind farm project in New York, only relenting when a new gas pipeline was approved. The administration also killed incentives for electric vehicles, even as sales had more than doubled since Trump’s first term.
Internationally, the Trump administration took a hardline stance, pressuring allies to buy more American fossil fuels and reportedly sabotaging a global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cargo ships. At the same time that world leaders were meeting in Brazil for the COP30 conference, Trump officials dismissed the proceedings as a “hoax” and celebrated new offshore drilling deals with Greece—the first in over 40 years.
This approach, as the New York Times op-ed notes, marks a stark departure from the traditional rhetoric of energy independence. Instead, the U.S. has become the planet’s leading producer of oil and natural gas, and Trump has wielded this resource wealth as a tool of top-down control and international leverage. The article draws a provocative parallel, suggesting that Trump is reshaping America in the image of oil-rich Persian Gulf kingdoms—resource-rich, authoritarian, and unapologetically transactional.
Domestically, Trump’s Justice Department has deprioritized anti-corruption efforts unless they serve his political interests, and he has taken an increasingly hardline stance against critics and opponents. On November 20, 2025, Trump even raised the possibility of executing six Democratic lawmakers—a chilling signal of the deepening polarization and authoritarian drift in U.S. politics.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his opening remarks at the G20, reminded leaders of their duty to uphold the integrity of the forum. “Leaders have a responsibility not to allow the integrity of the G20 to be weakened, in fact it has been strengthened. Multilateralism can and does deliver,” he said. Yet, with Trump’s absence and open opposition, the summit became a de facto referendum on two competing visions for the world’s future: one rooted in cooperation and collective action on climate, the other in resource nationalism and unilateral power.
As the summit drew to a close, the G20’s joint statement stood as both an achievement and a challenge. It reaffirmed the world’s commitment to climate action, but also laid bare the deep divisions that remain—divisions that will shape the global response to climate change, trade, and governance for years to come.
The battle lines are drawn. Whether the world can bridge these divides, or whether the coming years will see even greater fragmentation, remains to be seen.
