T20 Summit Berlin, May 29-30th 2017
The timing of the T20 summit in Germany this week, designed to discuss and deliver policy recommendations to the G20 meeting in July, couldn’t have been more apt. Since last year's G20 meeting, geopolitics has undergone a tectonic shift.
While the 2016 G20 meeting came on the heels of two historic wins for multi-lateralism - the UN Paris Climate Agreement, and the agreement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals - this year the first of these could already be under threat. The T20 rhetoric over the past two days has swirled around how to protect global cooperation amidst the new reality of growing protectionism.
The G20's raison d'etre is to bind the largest nations - those that contribute 85% to global GDP - to govern and act cohesively. It's architected to take on global challenges that don't have borders, but require global cooperation for solutions. Challenges like climate change, migration, global financial stability, international trade and tax governance, and the digital revolution to name a few. The new geopolitical dynamics of 2017 could make unified G20 action that much harder.
The German hosts this year have the difficult job of pushing forward a few of these global policy areas where they can make progress. Global financial stability, international tax governance, and governing digitisation are the likely favourites for action at the meeting this July in Hamburg. For some international issues, like the global climate agreement, it’s yet to be seen whether the G20 may become the G19 on this issue, with an announcement on the US’s continued participation in the Paris Climate Agreement expected this week. The view at the T20 this week is that the G20 must be about accountability in areas where it can't get full endorsement or cooperation. How a key issue like climate change plays out this year will send an important signal for the future of the G20, and for multi-lateral action.
Digital rightly got a lot of airtime too at the T20. With a global economy now wired by all things digital, G20 action to put in place global norms, standards and enforcement around cyber security and nation state cyber integrity is paramount. And more broadly, as our own T20 insights paper highlighted, governments need to act urgently to catch up with the rapid speed of technological change and put in place the safeguards, incentives, investment, industry collaboration and agile governance to make ensure the so-called (technological) fourth industrial revolution, is a sustainable one for people and the planet.
Fundamentally though, there was a broad acceptance at the T20 summit this week that it's globalisation itself that needs a makeover. Too many people have been left behind by the model for economic development pioneered by most developed nations. A loss of trust in globalisation, in global institutions and in global governance, has fed protectionism. In other words it's time for the G20 to regain the public's trust and champion a new vision for global economic development; one that places people (all people) at the front and centre. An inclusive model of economic development and prosperity that realigns society, business, and the economy.
Only this kind of model can re-unite leaders, government and people. But there is little to be complacent about right now, as urgent global challenges (like climate change) do not wait for politicians.
The T20 is a gathering of world-renowned think-tanks and experts in the lead-up to this year’s G20 summit in Germany. The T20’s mission is to deliver policy recommendations to aid the G20 leadership, and communicate with the broader public about issues of global importance. Find out more here http://www.g20-insights.org/.