The G20's climate change

The last day of the conference in sunny Queensland saw temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Delegates were turning up to the gathering of the world's top economies in a sweat. It felt like someone above had turned on a giant hairdryer and begun blasting the city with hot air.

I'm a Brisbane boy, so I took the heat in stride. But Australia's prime minister, Tony Abbott, must have been hot under the collar, as one world leader after the next pressed him to officially tackle the issue of climate change. The Aussie leader had previously argued that it was not one of the big issues that needed attention at this summit. He'd actually argued the same for the past year under Australia's G20 presidency.

Abbott couldn't take the heat any longer. The final communique did end up including a passage on climate change - but close to the bottom of the very long document. It took me a while to find it. Once I did, I wasn't all that convinced about the tone of the language. It simply talks about lending support, encouraging parties and working together.

Keep on talking

Will McGoldrick from WWF-Australia sounded more enthusiastic, telling me that progress was made - and that was welcomed. This, he says, is one of the key economic issues of our time, and it did get a share of the spotlight. McGoldrick felt that the real disappointment was the G20's action plan on energy efficiency. "It was nothing more than a commitment to keep on talking."

Energy efficiency was one of Abbott's favorite catch phrases at the conference. He trumpeted coal as the way of the future, pointing out that a fifth of the globe did not have access to electricity. "We have to give them electricity, and coal is going to be an important part of that," he said. The way Abbott wants to make that very dirty power source cleaner is by building more efficient plants.

McGoldrick didn't like the sound of that. He said it's a risky bet, Australia thinking that the world will still want its coal in decades from now, when so many other countries are shifting to renewables.

Other big issues overshadow

Besides all the talk about the globe's environmental concerns, the conflict in Ukraine really overshadowed the entire meeting. Russian president Vladimir Putin was given a frosty reception over his alleged role in aiding separatists. Abbott called him a bully. Other leaders also had strong words.

Despite all of the threats, Putin did meet for hours on end in a special private session on the sidelines of the G20 with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They were then joined by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Putin said there was a "good chance" of resolving the conflict.

Ebola also had leaders talking. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it had developed into a security, health and economic issue that is impacting the whole spectrum of our lives.

"We need to mobilize massive resources in terms of financial, logistics and treatment. We need to provide all political support to them."

Not 'mission accomplished'

At a press conference, I asked International Monetary Fund Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, what she thought about Ebola, Ukraine and climate change overshadowing the two-day chin wag. Firstly, she commended Abbott on his flexibility. Secondly, she said it was good these issues were being dealt with.

But she also said that it's "not mission accomplished" on the structural economic problems, like banks that are deemed to big to fail and financial sector "creativity" - as she put it - referring to derivatives and the shadow banking industry.

It's not like the globe's most important diplomats thought that they were going to save the world in just one weekend on such a short trip Down Under - but they sure did come a long way to try.