William R. RhodesandStuart P.M. Mackintosh

Opinion | G20 paralysis is bad news for tackling global food, health and climate crises

In its early years, the G20 oversaw cooperation on issues ranging from financial stability to inclusive growth and climate change. Today, major players are blocking it from operating effectively

Geopolitical tensions, war and new national security concerns mean the multilateral coordination of globalisation is now on life support

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A Yemeni woman collects spilled grains from the ground after receiving food aid at a camp for displaced people on the outskirts of Sana’a, Yemen, on April 29. The country is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, the UN has warned. Photo: EPA-EFE

William R. RhodesandStuart P.M. Mackintosh

Published: 12:15pm, 15 Jun 2022

The world is facing massive common challenges that require cooperative solutions. The Covid-19 pandemic has yet to end, and work to prevent another pandemic has only just begun. Rising debt burdens are endangering lower-income countries’ economic prospects and their people’s well-being.

Spiking food prices and the disruption of grain deliveries since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have increased the risk of hunger in many parts of the world. And, on top of it all, governments and businesses urgently need to convert their net-zero commitments into measurable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

These are daunting problems. But the biggest problem of all is that rising geopolitical tensions and war have now stymied the principal mechanism, the G20 leaders’ forum, for organising global responses to them. When strategic clashes over national security and economic and technological primacy loom, effective international cooperation becomes almost impossible, and that increases risks for us all.

The G20 summit was created by US president George W. Bush (building on an existing regular summit for finance ministers and central bankers) to address the 2008 global financial crisis. In 2008 and 2009, world leaders came together and pledged more than US$1 trillion to stabilise the global economy, calm markets, and financially reinforce the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

At that time, the new organisation was considered the world’s most capable, inclusive and dynamic venue for joint action and policy coordination. It proved quite effective in its early years, overseeing cooperation on issues ranging from financial stability and risk to inclusive growth and climate change. But, with major players now blocking it from operating effectively, the G20 cannot deliver the same public goods today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and then US president Donald Trump attend the 2018 G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Both leaders have played a role in rupturing the once-united organisation. Photo: AP

The G20 process was first damaged by Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, which effectively turned the group into the “G19+1”. And, although a US-China deal on climate change in 2016 reinvigorated the group, US president Donald Trump undermined it again by refusing to sign joint communiqués and rejecting US commitments to the rules-based international order.