India’s first G-20 summit was held in Delhi from 9 – 10 September, 2023 and the Delhi declaration was announced at the end of the leadership summit. It univocally voiced a consensus on the common goal for the future and the challenges that they face. The document includes the pledge made by G-20 leaders, gives recommendations and highlights the key areas that were discussed throughout the year-long G20 meetings. The central idea of the document is ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, i.e., One Earth, One Family, and the mission LIFE, that has emphasized on bringing a human-centric energy transition that focuses on People, Planet, and Prosperity.
At the G20 leadership summit, member countries collectively represent 85% of the global GDP, hold 75% of the global trade and about two-thirds of the global population. The outcome vision document of India places the spotlight on building, a strong, sustainable, balanced inclusive future, accelerating progress on SDG (sustainable development goals), green development pact, the role of multilateral institutions, technology transfer digital payment infrastructure, gender equality, and theme on the financial sector.
The summit overcame the geopolitical differences and set the future trajectory for the participating leaders, through the joint statement delivered at the end of the summit in which the members forged a consensus on the language of the contentious Ukraine issue, by reaffirming that G20 is not the platform to resolve geopolitical issues. The declaration received the consensus of all the members as it was delivered without any footnote by the chair, which means that India was able to bring everybody to the same table.
Some key areas touched upon by India include:
Energy Transition and Security
The G-20 members in the document mentioned the critical role of private enterprises in accelerating growth and driving sustainable economic transformations. In the document, they share their resolve to work with the private sector to create inclusive, sustainable, and resilient global value chains, and support developing countries to move up the value chain.
In the area of energy transition and security, at the summit, the document presented India’s vision to build partnerships, and global economic cooperation, to implement the 2030 agenda. This envelops India’s goal for a sustainable future that it envisions achieving by bolstering multilateral cooperation and building global consensus on an inclusive economic policy. The G20 grouping also recognizes the importance of building grid connectivity, through a resilient infrastructure for a sustainable future, and the importance of having a low GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emission pathway that India shared through Mission LIFE.
Biofuel Alliance
India’s success at the leadership summit can be gauged by the green development pact that was signed by the leaders. The pact focuses on cutting global greenhouse gas emissions, a global biofuel alliance, sustainable development, economic challenges, and ending plastic pollution, among others.
India launched the global biofuel alliance as a major green development pact along with other members such as Singapore, Bangladesh, Italy, USA, Brazil, Argentina, Mauritius and UAE. The Global Biofuel Alliance which was launched on 9 September 2023 on the sidelines of the G20 Summit recognizes the importance of sustainable biofuel for India’s zero and low emission.
Combining biofuel with fuel economy standards would necessitate developing and adopting advanced biofuels through the expansion of compatible vehicles, reinforced blending targets, and appropriate fiscal policies. This could, in the short term, help India slow the emissions growth in its road transport sector while also mitigating oil import dependency. Importantly, this should be combined with sustainability criteria that assess the GHG emissions performance of these advanced fuels and support the use of, for example, domestic waste and residues in the production of such biofuels.
India’s G20 Target
G-20 members also committed to advancing cooperative initiatives to develop, demonstrate, and deploy clean and sustainable energy technology solutions. At the G-20 summit, India took a pledge to support the presidency’s voluntary High-Level Principles, for Collaboration on Critical Minerals for Energy Transitions. This helps G20 to achieve its target to align its vision for building international partnerships to tackle global issues. They also undertook voluntary action plans to support reliable, diversified, sustainable, and responsible supply chains for energy transitions.
This initiative includes critical minerals semiconductors and other technologies. Through this, as per the outcome document, India hopes to pursue and encourage efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally through existing targets and policies, as well as demonstrate similar ambition concerning other zero and low-emission technologies. The target included abatement and removal technologies, in line with national circumstances by 2030. India also appreciates the ongoing efforts such as the Black Sea initiative, initiated by Türkiye to overcome the issue of food insecurity as per the Istanbul agreement to meet the demand of developing countries such as Africa.
Giving Voice to Global South
Due to the recent war and environmental catastrophe, supply chain disruption has created food insecurity in developing countries. India addressed this issue through G20, to improve the diplomatic engagement on the issue. India recognized the role of grid interconnectedness, resilient infrastructure, and creating universal access to energy for all. It has shown a willingness to implement sustainable, clean energy transition through international and national enabling environment. It has emphasized the need to create a low-cost financing system. The G-20 Summit recognizes the unique needs of developing countries due to their different national circumstances.
The gathering made an indelible mark as it successfully ended with a win for the developing country of the global South. As a forum for economic cooperation, G20 gives developing countries, an opportunity to highlight their concern. Therefore, at the end of the G20, India handed over the presidency to Brazil. Their shared interest in the developing world may allow them to carry the momentum with the presidency. While concluding the G-20 presidency, another breakthrough was made with the addition of Africa’s AU (African Union) as a permanent member of the G20. The summit reaffirmed its support for industrialization in Africa through initiatives aimed at enhancing regional partnerships. This would support industrialization in Africa and other LDCs (Least Developed Countries). This would be beneficial to Africa as the inclusion of AU would help them actualize their goals set under the 2063 agenda.
India – Middle East Economic Co-operation
On the sidelines of the G20, India, UAE, France, Germany, Italy, and the USA announced the creation of the India – Middle East Economic Corridor (IMEC) which marks another success for developing countries. It’s another milestone in bringing economic integration between India- the Gulf – and Europe. This shall help to create a ship-to-rail transportation network, thereby completing existing transportation routes. This would enhance the development and export of clean energy, create a link with the energy grid and with the telecommunication lines to connect communities and enable innovation by unlocking the potential for new investment.
Conclusion
This is the first time India has hosted the G20 summit, and through the summit, India has successfully brought unanimity among the key players on various common goals and the clean energy transition. The presidency gave India an opportunity to achieve something “inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented, and decisive”, through its agenda and including decisions on climate action, which is at the centre of the debate. The summit marked the conclusion of India’s G20 presidency with a consensus on bolstering trade while handing over the presidency to Brazil. This highlights the role of south-south cooperation of developing countries in making progress through multilateralism.
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