One critical issue that needs to be equally prioritised during the 2025 South African G20 presidency is ecological justice, including climate change and environmental protection
As South Africa gears up for the G20 presidency, succeeding Brazil in 2025, there is a long list of priority areas the country may want to frontload, some of which have already been suggested.
On July 17, the department of international relations and cooperation hosted a G20 policy seminar, encompassing representatives from academia, civil society and government agencies to deliberate on South Africa’s plans and priority areas during its term.
The G20 presidency, which has rotated in the Global South countries over the past three years, has been correctly identified as a suitable platform for addressing urgent problems in developing countries. For example, The United Nations Development Programme office in South Africa puts digital economic transformation at the top of priorities, followed by implementing advanced technology in the agricultural sector to be able to adopt climate change mitigation strategies, then fostering human development in the health and education sectors followed by supporting good governance mechanisms.
Another issue that has seen continuity from one G20 presidency to another for the past three years or so is the reform of the international financial institutions, mainly the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. With the African Union now a full member of the G20, one would expect there to be some discussion between the AU and the South African government in the quest to frontload some priority areas, especially concerning economic development, the just energy transition, as well as trade and investment, as stipulated in Agenda 2063.
One critical issue that needs to be equally prioritised during the 2025 South African G20 presidency is ecological justice, including climate change and environmental protection. It is worth applauding that Brazil developed a task force, Global Mobilisation Against Climate Change, which aims to develop collective strategies for mitigating the effects of global warming. Several groups, most notably T20 (research centres and think tanks from G20 countries) and C20 (civil society), have made compelling recommendations to the G20 leaders’ summit scheduled for later this year.
This is important global mobilisation, because it intersects with the call for reforming the international financial architecture and multilateral governance of global challenges in ensuring accessible climate and sustainable development finance. Thus, although there may be more pressing issues than this one in the eyes of the incoming G20 leadership, continuity on this would be important when South Africa takes over from Brazil. There is an opportunity to strengthen what the latter has started during her presidency.
Accordingly, attention should be paid to the following:
- Promoting and financing renewable energy should not strive to construct mega projects because the destructive consequences are hard to mitigate. For instance, mega hydropower plants deplete soil natural fertility, affecting the agriculture sector, which is the main national income for many African economies. Mega solar or wind plants also disturb the livelihood of pastoral communities and the migratory patterns of animals.
- Applying advanced technology in fossil fuel extraction and refinery to minimise hazards to soil, air, water and people’s health. Fossil fuel is still considered an asset, providing African countries a comparative advantage in the energy market.
- Developing environmental and social rules abiding by G20’s public and private companies when collaborating on constructing infrastructure projects. This should be combined with allowing civil society to monitor how the construction companies adhere to the regulations.
- Harmonising efforts and regulations of mobilisation across the global funds for climate change, for instance between the Loss and Damage Fund and the Climate Adaptation Fund. These environment-related funds should be part of the reform process of the international financial institutions. Additionally, part of these funds should be allocated to women affected by climate change.
Mitigating climate change should not be considered only in the sense of decarbonisation; ecological justice should be the objective. Achieving justice means balancing people’s economic prosperity and their endowment to their natural resources and the sustainable use of the environment. In reforming the global financial architecture, strategies for facilitating a sustainable economic transition in developing countries from that reliant on the extractive sector (mining, fracking, oil drilling) to sustainable economic models that protect and preserve the environment should be explored. While developing countries contribute very little to greenhouse gas emissions — Africa contributes about 3.8% —, everyone has a role in promoting and ensuring ecological justice.
Dr Siphumelele Duma is a senior postdoctoral fellow and Dr Abeer Abazeed a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation.