Background
On September 5, ORF America hosted a roundtable on the G20 Legacy, featuring policy and non-policy stakeholders from foundations, think tanks, embassies, media, and private sector representatives in New Delhi. The roundtable showcased ORF America’s research and convening relating to India’s G20 agenda including on multilateral development bank reforms, climate finance, and digital public infrastructure in the Global South. The discussion also focused on the significance of India hosting the G20 summit and concluded with remarks from H.E. Kenneth da Nobrega, the Brazil Ambassador to India, who spoke on Brazil’s upcoming G20 presidency and their priorities.
Summary
In a more contested geopolitical environment, how can developing countries achieve progress on sustainable development goals and shape the future of global governance? India’s G20 climate priorities include energy efficiency, hydrogen, biofuels, and clean energy supply chains. Countries including India are viewing clean energy transitions through the lens of economic competitiveness. Participants discussed the international implications of India’s carbon market, costs of diversifying solar supply chains, and international coordination in “green subsidies”. The G20 could be a vital forum for North-South cooperation on exchanging information and minimizing tensions relating to “green subsidies”.
Another G20 priority is digital infrastructure. Participants deliberated on how digital infrastructure can have “spillover effects” for any developing country to achieve its development goals. India sees the importance of digital infrastructure for better targeting and implementation of welfare schemes; this was especially useful during the covid-19 pandemic. In future, digital infrastructure must be “designed” to work for a larger population scale and how India can enable this adoption with other developing countries based on the principles of openness and interoperability. One potential partner in this realm would be Brazil and they will hold the G20 presidency for 2023-24. Brazil expects to portray a similar “level of ambition”—like India—in crafting a G20 agenda that elevates issues of importance to developing countries. To that end, some potential agenda items include development finance, climate change, women empowerment, and reform of multilateral trade laws.
