The G20 has proven to be an enduring platform for multilateral cooperation and dialogue, now more than ever, with the four consecutive Global South presidencies of Indonesia, India, Brazil, and, next year, South Africa.
The current global context has also demonstrated the need for the G20 to work effectively in sync with other organizations. For instance, in 2022, the G20 Bali summit was held just before the APEC Summit in Bangkok and followed the ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh. The efforts of global and regional macroeconomic and diplomatic initiatives could not prevent growing geopolitical and trade competition at the exit of the Covid-19 pandemic or escalating world tensions.
However, the junction between G20 and the UN that emerged on the occasion of the Summit of the Future reflects new possibilities to re-synchronize global and regional climate, energy, and development discourses. Leading think tanks across the T20-G20/T7-G7 have started to investigate this new policy and science-to-policy space in the past few years. Out of a seminal retreat hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation and T7 Japan and T20 India in 2023, they have formed a Global Think Tanks Cooperation format of dialogue, which has yielded promising results, prompting efforts to deepen this dialogue on the occasion of the UN Summit of the Future. The agenda includes addressing climate finance and debt relief, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and promoting global cooperation at the nexus between peace and development.
According to the Institute for Economics and Peace in London, we are witnessing the highest number of state-based conflicts since the end of the Second World War, accompanied by rising military expenditures everywhere. The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese grassroots movement Nihon Hidankyo, promoting nuclear non-proliferation at a time when geopolitical tensions are at an all-time high since the end of the Cold War in the world. It is not a coincidence that the SDG Summit held in 2023 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly showed deep gaps in the delivery of the 2030 Agenda, including a striking lack of financial and human resources and overall scientific cooperation.
While promising, the adoption of the UN Pact for the Future follows a similar pattern. It was adopted “by consensus” but 35% of the countries affiliated with the UN did not approve the text, including countries located in the Caribbean, Central Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific, which are particularly exposed to immediate environmental vulnerabilities. Thus, the preparation of the 4th Conference on Financing for Development and the second World Summit for Social Development in thirty years, both planned in 2025, calls for renewed track two diplomacy and higher quality dialogue between state and non–state actors. Think tanks need to embrace this agenda.
The fragmentation of international relations is a reality, but it is essential for all nations to promote more sustainable models of development and growth for planetary survival.
The potential for synergies exists. It needs to be mobilized. For example, while India chaired the G20 and promoted the Varanasi principles to renew the 2030 Agenda, China issued its new Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) as a pathway for “comprehensive, equitable and sustainable” modernization. In September 2024, the US launched the “Feed the Future” agenda and called to reinforce the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment. Meanwhile, Brazil is organizing a G20 Social alongside the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rio, on the way to the COP30 and BRICS Summit it will host in 2025.
In light of the context of international tensions, competition and cooperation, it is good news that leading T20/T7 think tanks agreed to work across climate and development agendas as “two sides of the same coin.” The Rockefeller Foundation offered to host an annual dialogue across the next T20-G20/T7-G7 cycles. The partners agreed to build on T20, T7 and other platforms such as the annual Global Solutions Summit, including GSI’s Council for Global Problem-Solving, and others, to activate more effective Track Two diplomacy and support more vulnerable countries. It was also decided to strengthen global scientific cooperation as part of a common agenda. Finally, the think tanks welcomed new initiatives such as the digital platform Think Asia initiated by ADBI, the project of the T30, a multi-angle format of think tank collaboration to be initiated ahead of the COP30, or the think–tank cooperation in developing countries promoted by the new Indian initiative, Dakshin – Global South Center of Excellence.
Think tanks’ joint and cooperative efforts to leverage new forms of multilateral cooperation and financing are incremental but also noteworthy, as they do not come in isolation within separate geopolitical spheres but rather in complement to interesting new inter-governmental initiatives, including the BRICS, which need to be deepened and connected. Last September, the Action Days of the UN’s Summit of the Future included several meetings connecting the G20 and UN, while the presidents of G20 Brazil and of the upcoming G20 South Africa chaired a large gathering of foreign ministers attended by the Secretary General of the UN and the President of the UN General Assembly. The newly adopted Pact for the Future has welcomed the organization of a biennial summit at the level of heads of State and governments to “establish more systematic links and coordination between the United Nations and international financial institutions.”
Following their recent meeting in New York, the Global Think Tanks Cooperation partners have agreed to continue their collaborative efforts into 2024-2025. Two Central Asian think tanks, the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication (CAERC) and the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC), will host a think tank forum in Baku during COP29. Additionally, ADBI has proposed that this forum be followed by an innovative convening on climate, development, finance, and science in Bangkok in March 2025. This event aims to explore how major ecosystems, such as the Amazon and the Himalayan glaciers, could benefit from a new generation of interconnected and well-informed global and regional policy frameworks. While these multilateral initiatives are ambitious, they hold significant potential for fostering actionable global commitments. To achieve success, it is essential for think tanks to remain engaged across various G20/G7, COPs, and BRICS cycles, even amid the challenges posed by domestic politics at both regional and global levels.
Nicolas J. A. Buchoud, Fellow of the Global Solutions Initiative, is Senior Advisor to the Dean and CEO of ADBI in Tokyo and Senior Fellow at RIS in Delhi, India