Brazil G20 Summit: Implementation is key for inclusive global growth

As a bloc comprising the world’s top 19 economies and the European Union and the African Union, G20 (Group of 20) is a global body that technically can determine the pace and direction of the world’s economic, political, and societal progress. Its members, which include the U.S., China, India, and other leading economies among the developed and developing nations, account for 85% of global GDP and represent two-thirds of the world population.

This year’s annual meeting of G20 leaders – the 19th G20 Summit - concluded in Brazil on November 19. The three priorities of the Brazilian G20 Presidency were social inclusion and the fight against hunger and poverty; sustainable development, energy transitions and climate action; and the reform of global governance institutions. The “G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration” that summarises the outcome of the 19th G20 Summit reiterated the bloc’s collective responsibility for the effective stewardship of the global economy, fostering the conditions for sustainable, resilient and inclusive global growth. Specifically, the declaration called for ceasefire in Gaza and Lebenon; desire for peace in Ukraine;  a global alliance against hunger; endorsement of artificial intelligence (AI) for the public good; and mooted the idea of international cooperation to effectively tax the super rich. 

Much of the agenda of Brazil’s G20 Presidency was an extension of the priorities pursued by India, which hosted the 18th G20 Summit in New Delhi in September last year. The “G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration” also focused on strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth, under the broad theme “One Earth, One Family, One Future”.  The continuity of focus areas as designed by G20 officially follows a “troika system” that looks at three Presidencies - the current, the previous and next - as a continuum for steering the G20 process.  The 20th G20 Summit to be hosted by South Africa in Johannesburg next year will take off from the commitments made at the Brazil G20. There is also another reason for the similarity and continuity of focus of key G20 Summit agendas of these countries. All three (technically four as Indonesia hosted the G20 Summit in Bali before India) are developing nations with a higher probability of a shared vision for the future. The priorities may not be as aligned as it is today as the Presidency moves on from South Africa to the U.S. in 2026. 

The 19th G20 Summit therefore was not just about continuity in the lofty objectives, but also an occasion to take stock of the achievements of the last three years and a look at what can be achieved during the South African Presidency in 2025 before the G20 mantle moves to a developed country. On this front, the results have not been very encouraging.

The G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration admits that with only six years left to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, progress towards only 17% of the SDG targets is on track, with nearly half showing minimal or moderate progress, and progress on over one third stalled or even regressed. Further, the G20 Research Group of the University of Toronto notes that in the Rio Declaration leaders made 174 collective, precise, future-oriented, politically binding commitments which was substantially fewer than the 242 made at New Delhi in 2023, the 223 made at Bali in 2022 and also below the average of 196 commitments made at each G20 summit from their start in 2008.

Even the performance track record of the member countries that rooted for solid commitments from among G20 membership is not so great. For instance, an analysis done by the G20 Research Group of the University of Toronto says only three countries – Australia, Canada, and the European Union - achieved full compliance of the New Delhi Summit’s priority commitments. They were followed by 2024 host Brazil, Italy, Japan, and the United States, with 94% compliance. The compliance percentage of India, which hosted the 2023 summit, was 72%. Russia had the lowest compliance rate of 50%.

There are many hurdles in fulfilling the commitments agreed upon at the 19th G20 Summit. Can food security be ensured while Ukraine, the food bowl of Europe, is at war? Can the challenges of climate change be faced and the commitments for renewable energy transition met without clarity in the source of the trillions of dollars that are required as climate finance for developing and emerging nations? Can the agenda to reform global governance institutions like the UN and the agenda to strengthen the multilateral trading system be taken forward when the incumbent President of the world’s largest economy, the U.S., talks of tariff hikes and trade restrictions?

There are no easy answers. And that limits the achievements of G20 Summits in general, not just the 19^th G20.