This year’s G20 Summit must, in the same spirit as COP17 (Durban, 2011) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002), be used by South Africa to promote sustainable climate action, internationally and domestically.
The COP17 was particularly instrumental in advancing political negotiations on developing new climate instruments and affirming the continued relevance of the Kyoto Protocol in shaping climate sustainability action prior to the Paris Agreement.
The G20 summit, to be held in Johannesburg later this year, represents opportunities for South Africa to re-establish itself as a main international role-player on sustainable climate action, and to urgently address the country’s own detrimental reputation as the highest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the African region and twelfth worldwide.
The 2025 summit arrives at a critical juncture for climate and sustainability action on the international stage. It will be four months after the historic International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment on the climate change obligations of states, which is already shaping climate and sustainability action internationally and domestically. As the host country, South Africa will have a greater responsibility and heightened scrutiny in consolidating many of the ICJ judgment’s principles at the summit, particularly against the country’s backdrop of severe inequality, unemployment, and vulnerability to climate change.
Significantly, this year’s G20 will be held two days after COP30 in Brazil. South Africa’s role at the G20 will therefore be critical in affirming the multilateral consensus of COP30 on the most pressing international priorities and obligations in relation to climate change. South Africa will also have to warrant states respect established climate targets, such nationally determined contributions (NDCs), in G20 negotiations, and ensure that these targets are interlinked with economic policy and human rights protection and fulfilment.
Looking to the future, the 2025 G20 Summit is four years before the seventh assessment report of the International Panel on Climate Change. It is also five years before the deadline of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. The lead-up and culmination of both these events will be shaped by the decisions and negotiations at an Africa led G20 Summit, similar to COP17.
Central to the 2025 summit will be the differentiated but common responsibilities according to the capacities of G20 countries. For instance, South Africa can mediate delicate political situations that have acute implications for experiences of climate change in Africa and the Global South. South Africa’s presidency can be a main driver for greater Global North and “developed” countries’ responsibility in building climate responsive capacities of states disproportionately affected by climate change. South African can thereby represent interests such as those of small island and coastal states threatened by rising sea levels, particularly for those in the African region that are too often invisibilised at these global summits.
There is a pertinent economic-centric focus of the G20 this year on issues such as African and Global South development, inclusive economic growth and debt reform. Yet, this economic-centric focus is tempered by the theme of the summit on solidarity, equality and sustainability. The implications of this theme are that development must be people-focused, specifically addressing systematic and embedded forms of discrimination and inequality, that the needs of future generations must be considered and that climate protection is concomitant to the pursuit of economic growth.
The transformative potential of the theme should not be underestimated for climate action. Many previous climate developments were in nascent stages at previous summits. South Africa’s hosting and presidency of the G20 can contribute to negotiations that result in shifting traditional economic aims to aims that are fundamentally integral to sustainable climate change responses. This will be dependent on the political will of South Africa in balancing the climate change agenda at the G20 with economic discussions and other contemporary topics, such as artificial intelligence.
This G20 also presents a moment of introspection for South Africa’s government and environmental authorities, which could further promote climate sustainability action domestically. Pressure to conduct the meeting with a country’s own reputation at stake has, in the past, spurred other host countries into taking sustained climate actions.
South Africa’s progress in a just transition is concerning and underwhelming. This is because of the continued reliance on a coal-based economy despite alternative pathways, and not adhering to emission and energy targets such as those of the Integrated Resources Plan. The proposed 2025 NDC of South Africa, available for comment, also does not represent the ambitious targets of a government committed to a just transition.
Implementing mitigation, adaptation and resilience obligations becomes imperative for South Africa’s commitment to climate sustainability action. But questions remain regarding the government’s ability and willingness to do so in light of the new Climate Change Act and climate change cases halting plans to develop new coal fired power stations, such as Cancel Coal. South Africa does have examples of sustainable climate action that many attending G20 countries can take note of. The Presidential Climate Commission has been a successful and unique institution in leading substantial components of South Africa’s climate change response, just transition, and shaping climate policy.
The summit will be conducted amid a complex network of global economic and political interests, but South Africa must prioritise climate change as the greatest global challenge and threat, both internationally and domestically.
Dr Christiaan van Schalkwyk is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Cape Town’s African Synthesis Centre for Environment, Climate Change and Development.
Advancing climate and sustainability action will require that all arms, spheres and levels of government lead an integrated and interdependent response to climate change