G20 at Crossroads- Opportunities to Reclaim Global Leadership

• 29 Nov 2025

This editorial is based on “ Without great powers on board, G20 is adrift ”, which was published in The Indian Express on 28/11/2025. The article argues that the G20, once created to empower rising economies, has lost significance due to major-power disengagement and failure on key global issues, pushing India to shift its focus toward platforms like the Quad and the East Asia Summit.

For Prelims: G20, LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), Mission 300 initiative, Black Sea Grain Initiative, African philosophy of Ubuntu, Global South, WTO  

For Mains: Role Played By the G20 in the Current Global Governance Landscape,  Key Highlights of the 2025 G20 Summit Held in Johannesburg, South Africa, The Main Factors Undermining the G20’s Ability to Address Today’s Global Challenges 

The G20 was formed during the 2008 financial crisis as a vital platform that included both established and emerging economies, such as India and China. Recently, at the Johannesburg 2025 summit, the absence of key leaders such as those from the US, China, and Russia has reduced the forum to a gathering of middle powers, exposing its declining influence. The G20 now struggles to address critical global issues, including climate finance, sovereign debt, trade conflicts, and migration. Geopolitical tensions, lack of inclusivity, and slowed decision-making are key challenges that threaten its future relevance and effectiveness. Urgent reforms are needed to restore its role in global governance. 

What Role Does the G20 Play in the Current Global Governance Landscape? 

• Premier Economic Coordination Forum: The G20 has become one of the most influential platforms shaping global governance, representing 85% of global GDP, 75% of global trade, and two-thirds of humanity.  
  • Initially created to coordinate responses to financial crises, it has evolved into a comprehensive forum dealing with economic stability, climate change, sustainable development, digital transformation, and geopolitical tensions.  
    • During the 2008 global financial crisis, the G20 collectively injected $5 trillion in stimulus packages, which prevented a deeper global recession 
  • In a fragmented and multipolar world, the G20 provides the necessary space for dialogue among advanced and emerging economies, making it central to solving problems that no country can address alone. 
• Addressing Global Debt and Ensuring Financial Stability: With over 60 low-income countries at high risk of debt distress (World Bank), global debt management has become a major governance concern.  
  • The G20’s Common Framework for Debt Treatment is currently the only structured platform bringing together traditional lenders (Paris Club nations) and new creditors such as China and Gulf countries.  
  • By encouraging debt transparency, sustainable repayment plans, and creditor coordination, the G20 prevents defaults that could destabilise entire regions.  
  • Similarly, through the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the G20 strengthens global rules on cryptocurrency regulation, shadow banking, and cross-border financial flows. 
• Leading Global Climate Action and Energy Transition: The G20 is indispensable for global climate progress, as it is responsible for around 80% of global carbon emissions.  
  • Its leadership, therefore, directly determines whether global climate targets can be met. Recent G20 declarations have committed to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, increasing climate finance, and advancing just energy transitions.  
  • Under India’s G20 presidency, initiatives such as the Green Development Pact, LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), and global biofuel alliances set new frameworks for climate action.  
  • These commitments influence global negotiations under the UNFCCC and encourage green investments. 
• Reforming Multilateral Institutions: Reforms of the IMF, World Bank, and UN have become essential as global power shifts towards emerging economies.  
  • The G20 is now the leading forum advocating these reforms.  
    • The World Bank’s ongoing plan to mobilise an additional $100 billion in development finance is a direct outcome of G20 recommendations.  
  • India’s successful push to include the African Union as a permanent G20 member in 2023 reflects a major step toward democratising global decision-making and giving the Global South a stronger voice. 
• Shaping Digital Governance and Technology Standards: As digital technologies transform economies, the G20 plays a strategic role in setting global standards on AI ethics, cross-border data flows, cyber-security, and digital public infrastructure (DPI).  
  • The G20 praised India’s DPI model, based on Aadhaar, UPI, and DigiLocker, as a replicable, low-cost framework for developing countries, marking a turning point in digital governance.  
  • By encouraging interoperable digital platforms, the G20 strengthens financial inclusion and expands access to digital services across continents. 
• Strengthening Global Health Architecture: The Covid-19 pandemic exposed severe weaknesses in global health systems, prompting the G20 to expand its health agenda. 
  • The creation of the Pandemic Fund, with initial commitments of $2 billion, supports early-warning systems, healthcare infrastructure, and rapid-response mechanisms in developing countries.  
  • The G20’s focus on equitable vaccine distribution, surveillance systems, and resilient supply chains for pharmaceuticals demonstrates its broader shift toward global health security. 
• Ensuring Food, Energy, and Supply Chain Security: The world is experiencing repeated disruptions due to geopolitical tensions, natural disasters, and conflicts.  
  • The G20 works to stabilise supply chains by promoting diversification, resilient logistics, and transparent trade mechanisms.  
  • For example, the G20 dialogue on the Black Sea Grain Initiative helped safeguard global food supplies for vulnerable regions in Africa and Asia.  
  • The announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) in 2023 highlights the G20’s role in shaping alternative supply routes to enhance global economic resilience. 
• Advancing Global South Priorities: The G20 has increasingly become a voice for developing nations. 
  • Issues such as climate justice, concessional finance, technology sharing, and development pathways have received greater attention due to the influence of emerging economies like India, Brazil, South Africa, and Indonesia.  
  • India’s G20 2023 presidency—hosting over 200 meetings in 60 cities—demonstrated unprecedented inclusivity and highlighted concerns of the Global South on debt, food security, and climate finance. 

What were the Key Highlights of the 2025 G20 Summit Held in Johannesburg, South Africa?

• G20 Johannesburg Leaders’ Declaration:  Despite the US boycott, the summit adopted a comprehensive declaration centered on solidarity, equality, and sustainability, reflecting the African philosophy of Ubuntu.  
  • It reinforced commitments to multilateral reforms, climate action, equitable economic governance, and greater Global South representation. 
  • Despite major absences, the summit produced a joint call for peace invoking the era not of war, addressed instability in Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan, and the DRC, and reinforced resistance to trade isolationism along with support for multilateral cooperation. 
• Climate Finance and Just Energy Transition: Members pledged to scale up climate finance, operationalizing the Paris Agreement–aligned just transition pathways and establishing a loss and damage fund for vulnerable nations.  
  • Summit welcomed the Mission 300 initiative focused on expanding clean energy access by 2030. 
• Debt Sustainability Reforms: A new Cost of Capital Commission has been established to reform global credit rating frameworks and address the disproportionate African risk premium. 
  • Tools such as debt-for-climate and debt-for-development swaps and improved creditor coordination addressed the escalating Global South debt crisis. 
• Youth and Gender Empowerment: The summit adopted the Nelson Mandela Bay Target to reduce youth NEET rates and committed to boosting female labor participation. 
  • Women were recognized as agents of peace, with calls to remove structural barriers. 
• Food Security and Inequality: The declaration endorsed Ubuntu-based approaches to stabilize food prices, support smallholder farmers, and strengthen nutrition security.  
  • It highlighted concerns over market volatility and the need to reduce inequality, especially across the Global South. 
• Digital and AI Governance: Leaders agreed on a global AI governance framework emphasizing safety, transparency, and human rights.  
  • The summit prioritized bridging the digital divide, enhancing digital skills, establishing data governance norms, and improving cybersecurity. 

What are Key Policy Proposals from India at the G20 Summit 2025?  

• Continuity from India’s 2023 Presidency: As the previous host, India set a strong agenda under the theme “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (“One Earth, One Family, One Future”) and ensured that many of its priorities such as climate action, sustainable development, digital infrastructure, and Global South advocacy remain central under the next presidencies. 
  • The global push for renewable energy, sustainable food security, nutrition standards, and digital public infrastructure, initiated under India’s leadership, continues to influence G20 outcomes. 
• India’s 2025 Summit Proposals( Six Global Initiatives) : 
  • Global Traditional Knowledge Repository: A digital platform to preserve and share traditional knowledge of civilisations (medicine, agriculture, sustainability), making ancestral wisdom accessible globally.  
  • Africa Skills Multiplier Initiative:  A “train-the-trainer” model aiming to certify one million trainers in Africa over the next ten years, to build lasting human capital across the continent and promote inclusive growth.  
  • Global Healthcare Response Team: A proposal aimed at strengthening global health cooperation, preparedness and equitable access to healthcare — reflecting India’s emphasis on public health and global welfare.  
  • Open Satellite Data Partnership: Encouraging shared satellite data among nations for climate, disaster resilience, agriculture, and development uses — supporting global monitoring and sustainable development efforts.  
  • Critical Minerals Circularity Initiative: Promoting sustainable use, recycling and circular economy models for critical minerals (needed for renewable energy, batteries, green tech) — a step toward resource security and green transition. 
  • Initiative on Countering the Drug–Terror Nexus: Addressing global security concerns by linking drug trafficking and terrorism, advocating for coordinated multilateral action to break this linkage.  

What are the Key Factors Undermining the G20’s Ability to Address Today’s Global Challenges? 

• Geopolitical Divisions Fragment Consensus: Geopolitical tensions between major powers severely undermine G20 unity.  
  • US-China rivalry, the Russia-Ukraine war, and Middle East conflicts create irreconcilable positions.  
  • At the 2025 Johannesburg Summit, US President Trump boycotted over agenda disputes with South Africa, while China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin did not attend, leaving only 17 leaders and turning it into a middle powers forum.  
  • Russia and China routinely block explicit Ukraine condemnations, forcing vague language that dilutes actionable outcomes. 
• Consensus-Based Decision-Making Leads to Paralysis: The G20 requires unanimous agreement among its diverse members, resulting in lowest-common-denominator compromises.  
  • During the 2022 Bali Summit, Ukraine references were heavily softened to accommodate Russia. Though, the 2023 New Delhi Summit avoided the issue entirely.  
  • The US prioritizes macroeconomic stability, while Brazil and India emphasize SDGs and climate justice. Without majority voting or enforcement mechanisms, declarations remain non-binding recommendations. 
• Chronic Implementation and Delivery Gaps Persist: G20 pledges consistently fail to materialize into action. The climate finance commitment for developing nations was met late.  
  • The Common Framework for debt restructuring has assisted very few low-income countries facing a massive sovereign debt crisis.  
  • Fossil fuel subsidies remained high despite phase-out pledges.  
  • The Debt Service Suspension Initiative temporarily aided nations but expired without permanent renewal. 
• Surge in Unilateralism and Protectionist Policies: Rising unilateral actions erode multilateral trust. Trump's proposed tariffs and his G2 condominium idea with China bypass G20 processes.  
  • A strong US dollar has inflated emerging market debt.  The US Inflation Reduction Act prompted EU complaints over discriminatory subsidies, while protectionism undermines WTO commitments that G20 members endorse. 
• Deepening North-South Equity and Inclusivity Divide: The G20's wealthy-dominated membership exacerbates global inequities.  
  • Official development assistance from rich nations declined post-COVID. The Global South demands debt-for-climate swaps and climate justice, unmet amid a wide digital divide affecting developing regions. 
  • Youth NEET (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) rates remain high in Africa and Latin America despite Johannesburg targets.  
  • The African Ubuntu theme highlighted these gaps symbolically but delivered no new funds, as ODA cuts sideline poorer voices. 
• Absence of Formal Institutional Framework: Lacking a permanent secretariat, budget, or staff, the G20 relies on rotating presidencies that breed inconsistency. 
  • South Africa's 2025 term faced coordination issues; the upcoming US 2026 presidency raises impartiality concerns.  
    • US President Donald Trump announced that South Africa will not be invited to the 2026 G20 summit, marking the first time in the forum’s history that a member nation has been excluded. 
  • The Data Gaps Initiative (DGI-3) shows uneven progress, only a few G20 economies compile energy accounts. 
• Agenda Overload and Mission Creep Dilute Focus: Originally focused on financial crises, the G20's portfolio has expanded to AI governance, health pandemics, migration, and inequality, spreading resources thin.  
  • This comes at a time when the WTO Appellate Body has collapsed with no credible roadmap for revival, weakening the rules-based trading system, while the BEPS global minimum tax reforms are facing repeated delays, reflecting widening divergences among major economies and slowing momentum for coordinated tax governance. 
  • Fossil fuel subsidies persist despite long-standing commitments, proving the forum's portfolio had grown too large. 

What Major Reforms are Required to Enhance the G20’s Effectiveness in Global Governance? 

• Establishing a Permanent Secretariat:  The G20 lacks a formal secretariat, resulting in inconsistent coordination and follow-up.  
  • Countries should establish a permanent secretariat in a neutral location like Geneva or Singapore, staffed with around 200 professionals and funded through member contributions. 
  • This body would oversee the implementation of commitments, maintain institutional memory, and publish transparent progress reports on pledges. 
  • The absence of such a structure has contributed to low success rates in areas like the Common Framework for debt relief, where only 7% of high-risk debt has been reduced so far. 
• Introducing Qualified Majority Voting: The current unanimity requirement causes delays and dilutes policy decisions. 
  • Implementing a qualified majority voting system (for example, 75% approval for non-security issues) would allow the G20 to reach decisions more efficiently, avoiding watered-down compromises witnessed in recent summits.  
  • This would catalyze faster action on critical issues like climate finance, digital governance, and debt restructuring. 
• Reforming the Debt Relief Mechanism: The G20 Common Framework for debt treatment has been hampered by slow procedures and inefficiencies, leading to limited relief despite growing debt crises in low-income countries.  
  • G20 members should streamline negotiation timelines, extend debt relief offerings, and mandate the inclusion of private creditors to ensure coordinated debt restructuring.  
  • As of late 2025, only a handful of countries like Ghana and Zambia effectively benefited from the mechanism, with relief amounts insufficient against the overall debt burden. 
• Ensuring Timely Climate Finance Delivery: Though the G20 pledged $100 billion annually to support developing countries' climate efforts, this target was only met with a significant delay.  
  • The G20 must formalize delivery schedules and link finance disbursements to verified progress on climate action.  
  • Fully operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund and scaling clean energy access initiatives are critical for meeting global climate goals. 
• Expanding Inclusiveness and Representation: The G20’s current membership, while covering major economies, leaves many rising and developing nations unrepresented. 
  • The group should expand to include key countries such as Nigeria and Indonesia and push for reforms in global financial institutions to grant greater voting power to Global South nations.  
  • This increased inclusivity will enhance legitimacy and ensure that diverse developmental perspectives guide G20 policies. 
• Streamlining the G20 Agenda and Accountability Mechanisms: The broadening scope of the G20’s agenda risks diluting focus and resources. 
  • The group should prioritize core themes—such as finance, climate action, global trade, and social inclusion—with clear accountability frameworks, sunset clauses for stalled initiatives, and mid-term progress reviews with contributions from civil society and independent experts.  
  • The restoration of WTO mechanisms and the phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies are areas requiring urgent attention. 
• Developing Governance for Digital and AI Technologies:  Rapid digitalization and AI advancements require a collaborative framework to ensure ethical use, data privacy, and bridging the digital divide.  
  • The G20 should negotiate a digital governance accord that promotes fairness and inclusion while funding infrastructure development to connect populations currently lacking access, especially in the Global South. 

Conclusion:

A stronger and more accountable G20 is vital for rebuilding trust in multilateralism and effectively addressing global challenges such as climate finance, sovereign debt distress, and digital governance. As foreign policy experts caution, “Solving the world’s problems requires global cooperation based on agreed rules; the alternative is the law of the jungle, where problems don’t get solved.” This underscores the urgent need for the G20 to evolve into a more responsive, inclusive, and implementation-driven institution capable of shaping a stable global future. 

Drishti Mains Question:

Discuss the contemporary geopolitical and economic challenges weakening the G20’s role in global governance. What core reforms are needed to strengthen its effectiveness?

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q. What is the core role of the G20 in global governance?
The G20 acts as the premier economic coordination forum shaping global governance, addressing financial stability, climate action, sustainable development, and digital transformation.

Q. Why is the G20 struggling to address present global challenges?
Its functioning is constrained by geopolitical divisions, consensus-based decision-making, implementation gaps, unilateralism, and lack of a formal institutional structure.

Q. What were the major highlights of the 2025 G20 Summit in Johannesburg?
The summit emphasized Ubuntu-driven solidarity, climate finance, debt reforms, AI governance, food security, and Global South priorities, along with India’s capacity-building initiatives.

Q. What structural reforms are needed to enhance G20 effectiveness?
Key reforms include establishing a permanent secretariat, introducing qualified majority voting, strengthening debt relief mechanisms, expanding inclusivity, and developing a digital governance framework.

Q. How can the G20 improve global climate and development outcomes?
By ensuring timely climate finance delivery, supporting just energy transitions, operationalizing loss-and-damage mechanisms, and prioritizing Global South developmental concerns

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Prelims

Q. With reference to the “G20 Common Framework”, consider the following statements (2022)

1. It is an initiative endorsed by the G20 together with the Paris Club.    
2. It is an initiative to support Low Income Countries with unsustainable debt.    

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? 

(a) 1 only 

(b) 2 only 

(c) Both 1 and 2 

(d) Neither 1 nor 2 

Ans: (c)

Q. In which one of the following groups are all the four countries members of G20? (2020) 

(a) Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey   

(b) Australia, Canada, Malaysia and New Zealand   

(c) Brazil, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam   

(d) Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea   

Ans: (a)

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Mains  

Q. What are the key areas of reform if the WTO has to survive in the present context of ‘Trade War’, especially keeping in mind the interest of India? (2018)