The Russian Presidency held the G-20’s first “Civil Summit” in Moscow, 13-14 June 2013.  Three hundred and fifty delegates from across civil society discussed how the G-20 could deliver “Strong, Sustainable, Balanced and Inclusive Growth”.  Recommendations were presented to Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin at a 1½ hour meeting in the Kremlin on 14 June 2013.

Australia, which takes over the G-20 presidency next year, confirmed that it will engage with civil society within a year-long process, and that it will host the second “Civil Summit” during 2014.

Civil society’s recommendations on how the G-20 should progress on delivering its commitment to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies were presented by the IISD’s Global Subsidies Initiative during the panel session organized by the C-20 Environmental Sustainability and Energy Working Group.  The recommendations made by Co-chair Peter Wooders of IISD (find the PowerPoint presentation here) were responded to directly by Igor Leshukov, Russian Co-Chair of the G-20’s Energy Working Group.

Noting how the G-20 and C-20 were thinking in the same direction, Leshukov described the G-20’s progress and plans.  He stated that the G-20 had started, in a few countries, to implement a peer review mechanism designed to enhance the reporting of fossil fuel subsidies and monitor their reform. He also noted that four outreach events had been held to progress the commitment to engage in “dialogue on fossil fuel subsidies with other groups already engaged in the work”.  Both issues were part of the G-20 Los Cabos Leaders’ Commitment

Continued progress on fossil fuel subsidy reform within the G-20 countries will require: implementing the peer review mechanism on country reporting more widely; further guidance and support for G-20 countries to help them identify, measure and evaluate their subsidies; increasing the priority of the issue within the G-20’s many areas of interest; and taking forward engagement, including during the Australian Presidency into 2014.

Full details of the Civil Summit, including the agenda, documents, photos and videos of the sessions held are at: http://www.g20civil.com/summit2013/.  The full set of C-20 recommendations is at: http://www.civil20.org/upload/iblock/8ee/Civil_20.indd.pdf, with those on fossil fuel subsidy reform on pp46-48 (English) and pp133-135 (Russian).  Text of the Los Cabos Leaders’ Commitment is at: http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/summits/2012loscabos.html