The G20 Leaders’ Summit concluded in Brazil on November 19, 2024, while negotiators at COP29 in Azerbaijan continue to work towards a consensus on accelerated global climate action. The G20 Leaders’ Declaration makes significant commitments to social inclusion and the fight against hunger and poverty; sustainable development, energy transitions, and climate action; and the reform of global finance and governance institutions.
We have gathered our community’s best insights and analyses to provide context and a deeper look into what it all means. These include publications, policy briefs, and contributions to our Solution Spaces series.
G20 Summit in Focus: A blog by GSI President Dennis J. Snower outlines how the G20’s Global Alliance for Hunger and Poverty marks a significant step in the “reorientation of the G20” towards tackling global challenges with a more inclusive approach.
Pact for the Future: Following the historic adoption of the Pact for the Future at the UN Summit of the Future, GSI Fellow Nicolas Buchoud explores how think tanks are driving global sustainability efforts for multilateral action to harmonize and support intergovernmental efforts like the G20, G7, CoP and UN-led fora.
Institutional Reforms for Stronger Multilateralism: In his opinion piece, Secretary General Markus Engels addresses his view on “renationalization” and how it affects states’ ability to address growing international challenges. He reiterates a fervent call for institutional reforms and strengthening the G20 as a driving force for representative multilateralism.
A Rich T20 process: This year’s T20 Brazil process presented its Communiqué to the G20 Sherpa earlier than in previous years, which allowed more room and time for civil society organizations, think tanks, and research institutions to collaborate on an implementation roadmap to complement the Communiqué ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. GSI CEO Christian Kastrop, President Dennis J. Snower, GSI Fellow Paul Twomey, Director of Global Outreach Vidisha Mishra, and Senior Advisor Vicente Arias authored a transformative roadmap for digital inclusivity, “Empowering Citizens in the Digital Age: A Roadmap for Inclusive Digital Transformation.” The roadmap has been added to the T20 Brazil Communique.
The Global Solutions Initiative also actively contributed to this process through policy briefs on:
- Debt Relief: Our Program Manager, Remy Weber, co-authored a brief on G20 strategies to ease debt distress in developing countries.
- Supporting Agrifood Systems in Developing Countries: Head of Summit and Content Yamunna Rao contributed to a brief on empowering women small-scale agripreneurs for sustainable agrifood systems. The proposals in this brief are echoed by the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty and reflected in the G20 Leaders’ Declaration with a commitment to “support developing countries to enhance their capacity for sustainable food production and marketing.
- Measuring Prosperity: Our President Dennis J. Snower, Diane Coyle from the University of Cambridge, and Colin Mayer from the University of Oxford wrote on “Measuring Prosperity Inclusively and Sustainably.” In it, they call for the G20 to move beyond GDP as a national performance metric and conventional profit measures as the basis for business performance.
Looking ahead: All eyes will soon turn to South Africa, which will take over the 2025 G20 Presidency starting next month. It will be the first time a G20 Summit will be hosted on African soil – made even more significant by the recent inclusion of the African Union as a member. The South African Presidency presents a remarkable opportunity for new approaches to global governance and progress on the various commitments made under the Brazilian Presidency towards sustainable development and climate action.
Upcoming event “From G20 to COP: An Inclusive Just Transition” on November 29 in Berlin
Join us in Berlin for an in-depth discussion featuring our special guest, H.E. Stone Sizani, Ambassador of South Africa to Germany. The event will highlight the priorities of the South African G20 Presidency and take a deep dive into how some of the most climate-vulnerable countries can steer and accelerate global action on green energy initiatives. Visit our website for more details.