B20 welcomes US-China climate pact BUSINESS leaders have pared back a list of recommendations to the G20 and axed climate change from their agenda because it's not a priority compared with jobs and economic growth. THE B20 has made 20 recommendations to world leaders, none of which makes reference to climate change, despite it looming as a key issue in Brisbane after the US and China reached a pact to reduce carbon emissions. Still, B20 chairman Richard Goyder on Friday welcomed the announcement by the two countries. "I think it's really important that there's an agreement between the US and China," he said. It seems to me there's going to be a heck of a lot more CO2 emissions in 2030 than there are today. Climate change had initially been part of discussions when the international business community began laying out the key areas of focus for the G20 summit in Brisbane. But Robert Milliner, the B20 sherpa, said a decision was taken to dump climate change from the list of priorities in favour of reforms to make "a material difference to drive economic growth and jobs." "We took a decision after a lot of consultation around the globe to focus on what we thought was going to be the core attention for the G20 this year, which is economic growth and jobs," he said. It's an important issue, as are many other issues but it became a question of prioritising and what was going to make a difference. The B20 has focused its recommendations on five areas: finance, human capital, infrastructure, trade and transparency. Climate change is not listed on the summit's official agenda, either, despite G20 countries representing 76 per cent of global carbon emissions.