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1. AI Governance and Geopolitical Challenges: What’s Next after Italy’s G7 Presidency?

Author:
Federica Marconi
Publication Date:
01-2025
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Profound technological developments have marked recent years, coupled with increasing geopolitical instability and economic fragmentation driven by rising tensions between major powers. Emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), have been at the core of global competition due to their potential for enhancing productivity and fostering innovation. The technological race has started to extend also to the definition of global AI governance frameworks, with the United States, the EU and China pursuing divergent regulatory approaches and striving to influence countries, especially in the Global South, that are looking at the existing models for their national regulatory systems. Against this backdrop, international fora such as the G7 are called upon to play a key role in fostering dialogue on how to reconcile these divergent perspectives and shape global governance for AI.
Topic:
International Political Economy, Governance, G20, G7, and Digital Policy
Political Geography:
Italy and Global Focus

2. G20 Energy Transitions and Climate Finance Task Force Report

Author:
Gateway House
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
The past decade has recorded significant progress in the adoption of green energy around the world. This has been made possible by a combination of technological advances, easier availability of capital and regulatory measures. However, further progress is likely to slow due to the economic shocks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Energy shortages arising from these two shocks are leading to increased usage of fossil fuels, at least in the short term. Higher energy prices have pushed poorer consumers out of energy markets – and thus into energy poverty and deprivation. Slower global growth and higher inflation also will reduce financial resources available for green investments, especially in lower-income countries. The global challenge is to continue the green transition while ensuring that lower-income countries have access to affordable energy. Another important issue is taxonomy – a common definition for green, renewable and sustainable projects will facilitate financial flows towards these sectors. As a group that represents the world’s largest economies, the G20 is well placed to act on these issues. India’s G20 Presidency provides the opportunity to highlight the concerns of the developing world, the challenges of functioning democracies, and potential solutions. This Task Force offers recommendations for the G20.
Topic:
Climate Change, G20, Finance, Green Transition, and Energy Transition
Political Geography:
India and Global Focus

3. Towards a Global Framework for a Public Good to Reduce Information and Labour Market Gaps

Author:
Paula Szenkman, Estefania Lotitto, Augustin Chiarella, and Maria Agustina Lacunza
Publication Date:
08-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth (CIPPEC)
Abstract:
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is forcing countries to face difficult challenges in responding to their workforce’s new skills requirements. Workers, particularly in developing countries, are lagging in terms of technological diffusion and the adoption of new skills. A key obstacle in addressing the skills mismatch is the lack of updated statistics that incorporate the latest changes in the labour market and the new skills demanded. This Brief recommends that the G20 develop a global framework to reduce information and labour market gaps. The proposed global framework would feature a digital platform with up-to-date data and information, which is disaggregated by the demanded skills. Such a platform would better inform workers, students, and companies about educational trends, employment needs, and training strategies. It would provide guidelines for the generation of a sound information system and encourage the production of easily accessible and customised information.
Topic:
Development, Labor Issues, G20, Skills, and Fourth Industrial Revolution
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. The BEPS Project: Achievements and Remaining Challenges

Author:
Sabine Laudage Teles
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G20 aims to reduce harmful tax avoidance and evasion by multinational enterprises (MNEs), which creates large losses in governments’ revenues. In times of multiple crises, many governments urgently seek additional revenue sources to finance public expenditures for sustainable development. In particular, many low- and lower-middle-income countries have tax-to-GDP ratios of less than 15 per cent, which is insufficient to provide basic public goods such as health, education and infrastructure for their populations. This policy brief evaluates the achievements and remaining challenges of the BEPS Project to mobilise more domestic revenues, in particular in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). After the financial crisis of 2009, the G20 mandated the OECD with the design and implementation of the BEPS Project. The goal was to identify and tackle the most pressing issues that led to the erosion of corporate tax bases in their member countries. A key issue is the phenomenon that MNEs avoid large amounts of tax by shifting their profits from affiliates in high-tax countries to affiliates in low-tax countries. In 2013, the OECD presented its 15-point agenda to tackle BEPS in OECD member states. However, global tax avoidance and profit shifting can only be effectively addressed if a large number of countries is on board. Thus, in 2016, the Project opened for non-OECD/G20 countries to join the Inclusive Framework on BEPS and the implementation process of the BEPS Action Plan. However, tax administrations of many LMICs complain about the highly complex rules designed under the BEPS Action Plan that are not adapted to their context-specific capacities and needs. Today, the Inclusive Framework on BEPS has 145 member countries, and the implementation of the BEPS Action Plan is almost finished. Preliminary academic evidence shows that the overall impact of the BEPS Project in reducing global tax avoidance and profit shifting is indeed limited. According to recent estimates, tax revenue losses due to profit shifting even increased from 9 to 10 per cent in the first years when anti-BEPS measures were implemented (see Wier & Zucman, 2022). Since there is no counterfactual world in which the BEPS Project did not take place, we can only assume that tax avoidance would have increased even more in the absence of the Project. However, the BEPS Project is still considered the biggest overhaul of global tax rules since the last century. Positive achievements include increased awareness of MNEs’ profit shifting behaviour, as well as the agreement on a global minimum tax.
Topic:
Development, G20, Tax Systems, and OECD
Political Geography:
Global Focus

5. Putting Development at the Centre of G20 Policy Agenda: Lessons for the T20

Author:
Daniele Fattibene and Alice Fill
Publication Date:
03-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The G20 Development Working Group has gradually evolved throughout the years, following a haphazard and contradictory path. On the one hand, it has been progressively overshadowed by a sectoralisation of G20 activities, with several action tracks (i.e., the Finance Track) taking a more prominent role in the definition of the leaders’ priorities. On the other hand, its (unexploited) potential has increased due to the emergence of several global crises that have shown the importance of rekindling multilateral solutions at the G20 level. The T20 has a strong potential to boost G20 legitimacy on development cooperation worldwide, by drafting evidence-based and pragmatic policy proposals for the decision-makers. However, although often advocating for similar solutions, the Development Working Group and T20 have not necessarily fed into each other’s policy agendas, leading to misalignment and reducing their chances to influence other G20 tracks on crucial development issues such as development finance, food security or the global climate agenda.
Topic:
Development, Political Economy, Governance, G20, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6. How the G20 can hasten recovery from COVID-19

Author:
Maurice Obstfeld, Adam S. Posen, Olivier Blanchard, Chad P. Bown, Cullen S. Hendrix, Ana González, Simeon Djankov, Anne-Laure Kiechel, Anna Gelpern, Sean Hagan, Adnan Mazarei, Christopher G. Collins, Simon Potter, Edwin M. Truman, and Joseph E. Gagnon
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
The world's leading economic powers must cooperate more to combat the health and economic shocks resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. In a new PIIE Briefing, Peterson Institute experts outline how collective action by the Group of Twenty (G20) nations can make a difference. The PIIE agenda includes removal of trade barriers impeding the flow of medical supplies and food, and more money for research, testing, and disease control, especially for debt-burdened low-income countries. The World Bank and the World Health Organization need more resources to relieve suffering, and the International Monetary Fund must step up to stabilize the world financial system.
Topic:
Economics, Health, World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, G20, and Coronavirus
Political Geography:
Global Focus

7. The Collapse of Multilateral Trade Negotiations in Cancún

Author:
Ayçe Sepli
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Novus Orbis: Journal of Politics & International Relations
Institution:
Department of International Relations, Karadeniz Technical University
Abstract:
The Doha Round or the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), which was officially launched in 2001, is the very first trade round of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Since developed and developing countries have different priorities and interests, the Doha Round has witnessed a series of deadlocks over ten years until the Bali Ministerial Conference in 2013. The first deadlock occurred at the Cancún Ministerial Conference in 2003. The primary points of dispute between developed and developing countries were agriculture and the so-called Singapore issues. This study investigates the Cancún Ministerial Conference as it is a remarkable example of how participant countries strive to secure their interests even at the expense of the collapse of the multilateral trade negotiations. In that regard, this study aims to examine the opposing negotiation behaviour has witnessed and determine how their insistence on different proposals lead to the failure of trade negotiations in Cancún. The primary argument of this study is that developing countries’ common stance and the creation of so-called G-20under the leadership of Brazil, along with India and China, prove the triumph of these countries as they succeeded to block any agreement that disrupts their interests at the Cancún Ministerial Conference. Although the Cancún failure damages the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, developing countries appreciate their coherent coalition strategies, which trigger the shift in the balance of power within the WTO in their favour.
Topic:
G20, Multilateral Relations, Negotiation, Trade, and WTO
Political Geography:
Global Focus

8. Global Forums: Are They Must or Waste for the Global Governance?

Author:
Gülen Derya Zayim
Publication Date:
02-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Global Political Trends Center (GPoT)
Abstract:
The age of globalization has brought about interdependency between the nation-states in all aspects of life while uncovering challenges for the sovereignty of the nations. Therefore, how an integrated world system involving multiple actors can efficiently be governed remain a subject of serious discussions. This study briefly explains the historical background of G7/8 along with its evolution to G20 and discusses their effectiveness and legitimacy in the context of global governance. It is worthy to discuss the issue since these global forums’ legitimacy and effectiveness subject to both critics and praises. Although the lessons from the global financial crisis consolidates the idea of global coherence, integrity and compliance, diverging political and economic conflict of interest of nations still make the international forums’ existence and future position in global governance open to discussions. Additionally, the last part of the study draws conclusion about Turkey and its place in global governance.
Topic:
Sovereignty, Financial Crisis, Governance, and G20
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, Global Focus, and Mediterranean

9. The G20 and Global Governance

Author:
Stephen Kirchner
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The Group of 20 sees itself as “the premier forum for international economic cooperation” (G20 2009b). This article examines its evolution and performance, and member countries’ compliance with G20 summit commitments. The G20 evolved as a response to the shortcomings of its predecessor, the G7/8. Yet its creation allowed member countries to avoid confronting many of the problems that arose out of the earlier forum. The best defense of the G20 is that it is the only institution of its type, but it still consumes scarce political and diplomatic capital, sometimes to the detriment of the policy objectives to which it is notionally committed. In this article, I compare data on members’ compliance with G20 summit commitments to proxy measures of the quality of domestic policies and institutions. While the proxies predict G20 compliance, it turns out that G20 compliance has no power to predict subsequent changes in domestic policies and institutions. The main implication of this data is that international economic and political cooperation is a symptom, not a cause, of domestic policies and institutions. Improvement in domestic policies makes the best contribution to advancing the G20 agenda, but such improvements do not appear to depend on the G20 process.
Topic:
Economics, International Cooperation, Governance, and G20
Political Geography:
Global Focus

10. Assessing the Governance Practices of Sustainability Reporting

Author:
Jason Thistlewaite and Melissa Menzies
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:
To promote climate change risk mitigation in financial markets, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) recently proposed the creation of a Climate Disclosure Task Force, coordinated through the G20, to develop standards for companies to disclose their exposure to climate change risks. With more than 400 existing disclosure schemes that employ a range of different standards to measure climate change risks and corporate sustainability, this task will be challenging. But the diversity of schemes also represents an opportunity to assess which practices are effective at improving corporate accountability for sustainability performance, as well as efficient at producing comparable reports that do not unfairly burden reporting organizations. This brief identifies the key categories of governance practices that must be addressed, how these divergent practices challenge end-users, and how the establishment of criteria that define effective and efficient reporting is a critical first step for the FSB and its Climate Disclosure Task Force.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Natural Resources, Governance, G20, Regulation, and Financial Markets
Political Geography:
Global Focus