The G20 summit commenced today in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a strong emphasis on solidarity, equality, and sustainability. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the summit’s host, has prioritized these themes throughout the event.
Key priorities include alleviating the debt burden on emerging and developing nations, promoting a just energy transition, ensuring fair and clean use of rare earth minerals, fostering equitable burden-sharing in climate protection, and bolstering food security. These issues are expected to dominate discussions over the next two days.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged G20 members to leverage their influence to resolve global conflicts, stating yesterday, that they should “use their influence and voices to end the conflicts that cause so much death, destruction, and instability around the world.”
European leaders are also convening in Johannesburg to discuss strategies for ending the war in Ukraine, as announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. This meeting will take place on the sidelines of the main G20 summit.
Climate discussions are also under close scrutiny, particularly given the apparent deadlock in negotiations for the COP30 climate conference in Brazil. The summit agenda also includes addressing debt relief, critical minerals for energy transition – abundant in Africa – and artificial intelligence.
The G20, comprising 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union, represents 85% of global GDP and approximately two-thirds of the world’s population. The United States is slated to assume the G20’s rotating presidency after South Africa.
Ahead of the summit, the European Union and South Africa signed a new partnership aimed at fostering clean trade and investment. This includes an agreement to collaborate on mineral value chains and launch new projects within the Global Gateway initiative. The partnership seeks to promote mutual trade, attract investment, and create jobs while supporting decarbonization efforts and strengthening clean supply chains. The announcement was made during a leaders’ meeting in Johannesburg, with President von der Leyen in attendance.
