The international framework for achieving tangible progress in climate protection and sustainable development has significantly deteriorated in recent years. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, along with the repositioning of the current U.S. administration — particularly in its approaches towards China, Russia, and the United Nations — has unsettled the rules-based international order and complicated consensus-building in multilateral negotiations. This makes the G20 all the more pivotal in bridging divergent interests.
Originally convened to address complex financial and economic issues, the scope of action of the G20 meetings has broadened considerably. Climate protection, sustainable development, global health, food security, and societal resilience have assumed increasingly prominent roles in the G20’s deliberations.
The G20 has frequently been able to exert decisive pressure to facilitate ambitious consensus-building within the United Nations and to drive forward reforms in the international financial architecture. Multilateral negotiations on environmental and sustainability issues have also benefited from G20 engagement.
A notable example is the 2023 G20 Summit in New Delhi, which produced a breakthrough commitment to accelerate efforts to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 — an initiative under the Indian presidency that gave considerable momentum to the corresponding consensus within the UN Climate Conference in Dubai a few weeks later. The G20 Summit in Hangzhou in 2016, with its pioneering decisions on Green Finance, laid the foundation for the subsequent G20 Sustainable Finance Roadmap, further illustrating the group’s expanding agenda.
Of particular relevance for tangible progress in emerging economies and developing countries are initiatives such as the G20- and Paris Club-led Common Framework for Debt Treatments, and the G20’s commitment to voluntary country platforms to mobilise overdue financing for mitigation, adaptation, and resilience-building.
Another productive instrument is the G20 Resource Efficiency Dialogue, launched at the 2017 Hamburg Summit, which promotes circular economy models, efficient resource use, and more sustainable lifestyles. In this context, the G20’s 2024 call for the life-cycle approach to be taken into account in the global negotiations on the Plastic Convention also stands out.
The thematic breadth of G20 workstreams, along with the associated broad participation of specialised ministries from member states, has enabled in-depth engagement with key policy issues. This structure allows for informal consultations which foster convergence, facilitate the emergence of new alliances among interested stakeholders and the preparation of major multilateral initiatives, both within and outside the UN system.
The global influence of the G20 has grown during the successive presidencies of several emerging economies. The inclusion of the African Union as a permanent member has made the perspectives of this crucial group more visible — a long-overdue step, given the continent’s demographic and economic trajectory. This also applies to other emerging economies and developing countries, such as the ASEAN states, which regularly participate as invited guests, and to EU member states not formally part of the G20, whose views are indirectly represented through the European Union.
The G20’s potential as a platform for global bridge-building is exceptionally high, as it brings together the two most influential groupings — the G7 of industrialised democracies and the China-led BRICS — alongside other key actors on an equal footing. Australia, Japan, and Canada have played increasingly important roles as mediators, further reinforcing this dynamic.
With the presidencies of Argentina, Indonesia, India, Brazil, and South Africa, the perspectives and priorities of these countries became more influential, thereby enhancing the quality of G20 outcomes and rebuilding trust. This is of immense value in a time of profound geopolitical instability.
Additionally, the G20’s so-called Engagement Groups — such as the B20 for business, C20 for civil society, T20 for think tanks, W20 for women, and Y20 for youth — have established a deeper dialogue between G20 governments and societal stakeholders. This has injected fresh momentum into discussions, often facilitated decision-making, and contributed to stronger international networks among civil society actors.
The Foundations Platform F20 also plays a key role in this context. Though not an official G20 Engagement Group, its independence from the rotating G20 presidencies allows it to pursue a long-term strategic approach. With around eighty member foundations and philanthropic institutions from G20 countries, F20 is well-positioned to advocate for progress on climate, biodiversity, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to amplify political support for ambitious G20 outcomes in these policy areas. F20 also addresses the shrinking space for civil society and non-governmental organisations — an issue increasingly relevant across many G20 states. Numerous foundations outside of F20 share these commitments.
Of course, Russia’s war against Ukraine and the current erratic policy direction of the U.S. government have also left their mark on the G20’s work. Nevertheless, a majority of G20 members remain committed to collaborative efforts to address humanity’s grand challenges. This majority must continue to be leveraged, even if a smaller subset of members chooses not — or only partially — to engage.
Now, more than ever, it is essential not to retreat, not to lapse into passivity, but to stay the course, defending existing achievements, safeguarding progress, and advancing where possible.
Given the presence of key regional and global actors across various G20 workstreams, this forum remains uniquely positioned to explore solutions to urgent global challenges and to feed these into multilateral processes. Thematic coalitions of forward-leaning states can continue to form within the G20 framework — coalitions that are not deterred by the obstruction of individual members. Thereby, the G20 can continue to make meaningful contributions towards achieving climate goals and the SDGs.
Uncertainty tends to breed distance. Yet international turbulence can also be fertile ground for innovative approaches. The world is undergoing profound geopolitical and geo-economic transformations, accelerated by the sweeping effects of the digital revolution. With escalating tensions among superpowers, a weakened UN system, and an increasingly multipolar landscape, the G20 remains one of the few platforms where the world’s most influential political and economic actors from all regions can jointly search for viable responses to our era’s increasingly complex challenges.
In the coming phase, broad-based consensus documents from G20 leaders may become more difficult to achieve, due to obstructionist stances by some members on key issues. The G20 may, therefore, revert — much like the G7 in its early years — to prioritising informal exchanges of views and settling for shorter outcome documents.
Even if such progress is not always visible from the outside, the G20’s relevance for global cooperation will continue to grow. Especially in geopolitically volatile times, sustained dialogue among the most influential states on critical global issues is indispensable. The G20 holds the potential to foster trust even among states with diverging interests, and to help shape the international agenda.
About the authors
Stephan Contius was the Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Head of the Division for the UN and Developing Countries and Emerging Economies at the German Environment Ministry. Since 2022 he has been the Special Advisor on SDGs at the Foundations Platform F20.
Michael Schaefer was the German Ambassador to China between 2007 and 2013. He then served as Chairman of the Board of the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt.