The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) held the first series of G20 Environment Deputies Meeting and Climate Sustainability Working Group (1st EDM-CSWG) on March 21-24, 2022, in Yogyakarta.

The Environment and Forestry Minister, Dr. Ir. Siti Nurbaya, M.Sc., remarked that this meeting is a momentum to actualize a courageous collective action to address the three planetary crises, namely climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and overpopulation, which are intertwined and have currently caused significant problems on earth.

In the Climate Sustainability Working Group (CSWG), under the coordination of Directorate General of Climate Change MoEF, a series of studies was conducted to support three (3) priority issues that will be the focus of every meeting, they are:

1. Supporting more sustainable recovery
2. Enhancing land-and sea-based actions to support environmental protection and climate objectives
3. Enhancing resource mobilization to support environmental protection and climate objectives

Supported by the input of other G20 countries, the series of studies was formulated into a collective G20 commitment through the adoption of the Ministerial Communiqué/Declaration in the environment and climate change as the primary document outcome of the meeting.

In the CSWG workshop held on March 21, 2022, Diana Quezada, GGGI Green Growth and Recovery Senior Officer, presented a preliminary report for the first priority issue on “Economic, Social and Environment Impact Inventory of Sustainable Recovery including its Impact to NDC Implementation”. This study is aimed to provide an overview on the progress and implication of Green Recovery measures on the Covid-19 pandemic. In the same workshop, the preliminary report for the second priority issue, “Promoting Ocean-based Solutions to Climate Change Through Enhanced Cooperation in Science, Research, and Innovation” was also presented by UNESCAP, as well as the study for the third priority issue, “Innovative Finance Frameworks towards Low Green House Gas Emission and Climate Resilience Future” by UNDP.

The preliminary reports presented in the event cover several key messages. They are related to Covid-19 recovery response in G20 countries, 1.5-degree Celsius goal, recovery response impact to climate change mitigation, international finance mobilization, best practices on green economy measures by G20 countries, and the global framework needed in realizing those efforts.