In the days before the G20 Hangzhou summit, only some vehicles were allowed through the city, construction sites were stopped, inhabitants received a week-long holidays (and were encouraged to leave the city) and factories in the region (including more than two hundred steel mills) were asked to stop their production (in order to temporarily reduce air pollution).

[3][4][5][6] On 3 September 2016, Barack Obama and Xi Jinping announced the ratification of the Paris Agreement (of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference) by their countries,[7][8] bringing the total number of countries ratifying the agreement to 26;[9] the United States and China represent respectively 18 percent and 20 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions (the driving force behind global warming).

[8][10] The main themes of final communiqué of the summit are:[11] The heads of state and government of G20 issued a joint statement with a summary of the main results of the meeting.

The statement is divided in the following documents: List of leaders who took part in the 2016 G20 Hangzhou summit:[17] President Obama was snubbed by Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party as he descended from Air Force One to the tarmac of Hangzhou International Airport without the usual red carpet welcome.

[20] Xi Jinping in the speech quoted "Guoyu", Traditional Chinese history books, in Chapter 9 of the "通商宽农" (tōng shāng kuān nóng, meaning reducing taxes and make road easy to walk, promote commercialization, and relax agriculture[21]), but he mistakenly pronounced it as "通商宽衣" ("宽衣" kuān yī means Undress), the Central Propaganda Department ordered media and social platforms to prohibit this discussion.