Following the ministerial meetings of the G-20 held in the summer of this year, the G-20 Leaders Summit recently concluded in India on Sept. 9-10.
It will be an essential forum for world leaders, which has been marked by many issues, such as the use of the name “Bharat” instead of India, as well as the absences of both Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Chinese President Xi Jinping. While the Russian president has been absent on the grounds of possible international crime arrest issues, China’s decision seems more related to the continued bilateral border disputes with India. Several important issues were addressed in their absences, ranging from the environment, the new cryptocurrency regulation regime envisaged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), artificial intelligence, as well as geopolitics and geo-economics. The most important issue was the ongoing war in Ukraine, to which the summit expressed strong concerns but stopped short of condemning Russia. The summit was also marked by a proposed alternative route to the One Belt One Road (BRI) trade route. And last but certainly not least, the African Union (AU) was invited to become a permanent G-20 member. This will make G-20 more inclusive and will also provide Türkiye greater opportunity to enhance cooperation in Africa.
Host nation India’s motto, “One Earth, One Family, One Future,” undoubtedly underlines inclusiveness and unity in the face of global challenges, such as global warming and environmental problems.
The Russia-Ukraine War, including the non-renewal of the grain corridor agreement so far (as of September 2023, the agreement was not extended for a third time and uncertainties remain, albeit repeated), has created significant uncertainties in global food security as well as food supply chain related issues. This was also the first meeting since the host nation, India, became the most populous country in the world, ahead of China as of 2023. Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi alluded that India is no longer perceived as a nation of 1 billion hungry stomachs but of 1 billion aspirational minds.
The G-20 consists of the five permanent member states of the U.N. Security Council (United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom), 14 other leading global economies, including Brazil, Germany, India, South Africa and Türkiye, and the European Union as a regional organization. The inclusion of the AU as a permanent member will make the G-20 more inclusive of the “Global South.” Typically, some nations, such as Spain, are permanent invited guests. This tradition of summit meetings and Congress Diplomacy dates back to the days of the Westphalia Peace in the 17th century and the Congress of Vienna as well as the Concert of Europe in the 19th century.
Although concrete results are not always immediately observable in such multilateral platforms, they are still valuable settings for multilateral diplomacy and sustaining dialogue among major nations with sizable economies, considered great powers and regional powers. Often, such summits serve mainly as a consultative mechanism in which challenges are discussed, and yet limited concrete commitments are made. Climate change comes to mind as a major global challenge to be addressed by all of the G-20, regardless of their various and differing political positions on many issues.
One of the main issues regarding climate “justice” and “equitable sustainable development" is the issue that many of the developed nations had after many years of polluting and colonizing the Global South to reach a certain level of industrialization and development. However, now, the regions that were colonized and have many underdeveloped regions are expected to adopt policies that require considerable investment or renewable energy sources. Although technology is rapidly developing, the output of energy from conventional coal-powered plants is still cheaper and more readily available, but the consequences are considerable amounts of emissions. Air pollution is a considerable issue in China’s and India’s capitals. This is why the issue of equitable and affordable access to clean and renewable energy is one of the main topics that have been highlighted as understood by the “One Earth, One Family, One Future” motto by the 2023 G-20 host nation India.
India has traditionally been an important actor vocal in anti-imperialist and post-colonial movements. In the Global South, India has a policy of balancing different actors. The absence of China and Russia demonstrated India’s increasingly “counterweight” role in balancing West and East (geopolitically Russia and China in terms of a Great Game over the New Silk Road) as well as between the developed nations in the North and the Global South. For instance, India is involved in the QUAD group of states along with the U.S. (Modi made an official visit to the U.S. in June 2023 and addressed the U.S. Congress) on the one hand, and the other hand has broad relations with non-OECD states such as Russia and China through the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping, which will now include six more nations (Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). India is also part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), albeit continuing to have differences of opinion with many of its member states, most visibly with China. Nonetheless, advancing peaceful cooperation without being stuck on differences is essential to promote regional and global stability. However, the climate crisis nowadays requires more regional and global cooperation as the pollution of a single country can create significant global problems.
India has a comparatively peaceful reputation in light of global politics, including membership in many global sustainability and renewable energy initiatives. Also, India’s prestigious space program adds to its technological strengths, including becoming the first nation to successfully land on the Lunar South Pole and fourth on the moon. India is a member of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), as well as the founder of the International Solar Alliance (IRENA).
The solar alliance, in particular, has been a major initiative by the current Modi government in India. India has also been a major investor in the wind power industry with increasing investments. The “cleanest” and one of the environmentally most friendly villages in Asia is the village of Mawlynnong, also located in India. Located in the northeastern part of India, Mawlynnong does not allow plastic and typically has no plastic waste (if any, they are taken to a recycling center), inhabitants take daily cleanliness tasks and every Saturday are assembled to have their weekly tasks distributed by the village chief. Yet, this is one tiny village of about 500 inhabitants in the most populous country in the World, hence, the model has not been extended to a national level so far. By contrast, however, high population growth means that India is also responsible (from a neo-Malthusianism perspective) for causing more stress on many of the world’s limited natural resources because of high growth rates. In 2021, at COP-26, India proclaimed a net zero emission target by 2070. Achieving this objective is not easy and would annually require significant investments in renewables, including solar and wind. Furthermore, at this rate of global warming and climate-related crises, targets of having zero emissions by 2070 may be too distant of a future, while climate action is immediately required within this decade.
Shared global goals require enhanced cooperation to create more sustainable opportunities in the future. In this context, it is worth remembering, for instance, that the new World Bank President AJ Banga is a U.S. citizen of Indian origin (born and raised in India and later became a naturalized citizen of the U.S.). Notable world leaders of Indian origin who will likely be in the G-20 include British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (we should also mention that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is also of part Indian ancestry). India’s fast-growing population will continue to pose challenges as well as numerous opportunities for our planet.
In this context, the importance of developing reasonable, balanced policies and principles that spread stability is also important for rapidly developing inter-organizational cooperation, such as more joint meetings between the G-20 and other organizations such as the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).
Türkiye, as a G-20 member and still a candidate state for membership to the European Union, needs to further abide by the norms and values of furthering green transition and policies compatible with the EU’s Green Deal. Such values and principles should also be encouraged and adopted by the host nation, India, the biggest democracy in the world and now the most populous country in the world.
Therefore, at the G-20 summit, it is important that Türkiye and other G-20 countries continue to espouse principles of green economy and sustainability. Türkiye should seize on the opportunities to have alternative routes to the BRI route of China and thus to have other complementary and alternative routes to diversify trade options. Notably, Türkiye should also further the Middle Corridor in Central Asia as well as the Iraqi Peace Road as alternative routes to both American and Chinese options.
Unfortunately, the Energy Ministers of the G-20 had failed to agree on reducing global emissions and how to proceed with energy transition.
G-20 energy ministers, specifically due to objections by major petroleum exporters Russia and Saudi Arabia, disagreed on the language relating to phasing down fossil fuels. However, the consolation of the July 2023 Goa Energy Ministers meeting can be that significant dialogue occurred prior to the upcoming COP-28 from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 in Dubai.
