It was in Rio de Janeiro, Federative Republic of Brazil, on 1 December 2024, when the Republic of South Africa officially took over the reigns as the convenor and chair of the Group of Twenty (G20) most industrialised global economies. It must be understood that the G20 is not a completely inclusive organisation as some industrialised countries like Norway are not members, thus have no influence on its proceedings.

The G20 is a constellation of the most advanced industrialised economies in the world from different regions and/or continents. The group’s membership includes the technologically and industrially established countries from Europe and North America. It also accommodates emerging economies in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. South Africa is not only the first African country to chair the G20, but also the only country representing the continent. Thus, the G20 Presidency for South Africa has dual importance of being historic for the country and continent, and globally critical in relation to balancing power relations between the developed and developing countries with the re-election and return of the American President Donald Trump to office on 20 January 2025.

Under its theme of the G20 Presidency, which is “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability”, South Africa already identified three apex priorities, namely; enhanced pursuit of the SDGs, food security, and Artificial Intelligence and Innovation for Sustainable Development1. South Africa would better position itself and create a lasting legacy by not reducing these issues to only be a phenomenon reflective and only prevalent in its geographical location, that is the African continent. These are some of the critical challenges and issues confronting humanity in this century beyond the national and artificial borders of nation-states.

The historical importance of South Africa’s chairship and hosting of the G20 engagements is premised on the known legacy of the organisation as a platform for sharing perspectives, best practices, knowledge, and information on critical issues such as agriculture, environment and climate, tourism, financial systems, trade, and sustainable development, to mention a few. Over the years, the grouping has transformed its informal discussions into more structured engagements with outcomes that seek to augment and strengthen global governance frameworks on various common and shared challenges experienced by its members. The transformation of the organisation from 2009 to 2025 has produced mixed results. At times perspectives of some countries converge on certain issues whereas others take opposing positions, a case in point is the climate agenda and how to deal with the varying effects of climate change in different countries.

It is advisable that for South Africa to make an impactful contribution in advancing the G20 development agenda, focus should be more on areas on convergence rather than on issues that cause further rift between the industrialised and industrialising countries. Humanity in general, whether populations in the North or developed countries and their counterparts in the South, all need to be ensured that governments and social partners are doing their utmost best to save the world from needless poverty, concerning food insecurity and that technological advancements do not displace people from their current employment instead improving their productivity and efficiency. Artificial intelligence and technological innovations should bring about new ways of doing things in a manner that makes life better and access to basic services both accessible and affordable.

In the past three years, the agenda and critical discussions of the G20 focused on issues such as climate change-induced disasters and reconstruction, just energy transition, the role of the multilateral development banks in supporting sustainable development including climate change adaptation and resilience intervention measures, debt crisis and sustainability in developing countries, the financing and acceleration of efforts to attain the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals targets by 2023. From this broad agenda on sustainable development, it is patently obvious that South Africa’s role is not to reinvent the wheel by creatively bringing to the table new issues, but rather to ensure that the agreed upon actions and decisions are implemented with urgency and accelerated efforts.

The 2024 G20 Rio Declaration acknowledges the challenges South Africa’s presidency has to prioritise and push to the top of the group’s agenda this year. The declaration states that “with only six years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, progress towards only 17% of the SDG targets is on track, nearly half are showing minimal or moderate progress, and progress on over one third has stalled or even regressed.”2

Perhaps I should quickly highlight the seventeen SDGs, and they are: SDG1 - No Poverty; SDG2 - Zero Hunger; SDG3-Good Health and Well-being; SDG4 - Quality Education; SDG5 - Gender Equality; SDG6 - Clean Water and Sanitation; SDG7- Affordable and Clean Energy; SDG8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth; SDG9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; SDG10 – Reduced Inequality; SDG11- Sustainable Cities and Communities; SDG12 – Responsible Consumption and Production; SDG13 – Climate Action; SDG14 – Life Below Water; SDG15 – Life on Land; SDG16 - Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions; and SDG17 – Partnerships for Goals.

International and national news outlets undoubtedly have more news reports, data, and literature on some of these SDGs, but not all of them. Predominantly, the focus on Climate Change which is SDG13 has dominated international news before and after 2015 when these global development goals were adopted. Not enough has either been done nor reported about SDGs such as responsible consumption and production, life on land, and life below water. Focus on the last SDG (17) has been more on matters related to access to financing for developing countries and intervention efforts in situations of war and conflict which is SDG16.

Twelve months is certainly not adequate to push the world to commit more resources to accelerate the implementation of all the SDGs to levels higher than fifty percent achievement. However, South Africa would be taking a bold step and action if she selects some of these SDGs and prioritise their acceleration in 2025. The best place to start is the implementation of the resolutions adopted in the past three years and following through on Brazil’s achievements and outstanding commitments.

To be in sync with its set priorities, South Africa should look at the group’s resolutions and decisions from 2022 to date and ensure that there is thorough and deliberate focus on implementation which naturally require commitment of financial and human resources. In this regard, paragraph 29 of the G20 Bali Leaders Declaration partially argues that the G20 countries “will stay agile and flexible in our fiscal policy response, standing ready to adjust to the changing circumstances as needed. Temporary and targeted measures to help sustain the purchasing power of the most vulnerable and cushion the impact of commodity price increases, including energy and food prices, should be well designed to avoid adding high inflationary pressures.”3 This assertion and commitment already covers a number of the SDGs, namely SDG 1 on Zero Poverty, SDG 2 on Zero Hunger, SDG 7 on energy efficiency, as well as SDGs 10 and 12 on reducing global and national inequality and promoting responsible consumption and production, respectively.

In plain terms, this article’s central message is that South Africa needs not invent any new global strategies and/policy framework insofar as the SDGs are concerned. Instead, the country should invest energy, time, and resources, pressing ahead with concrete measures towards full implementation of the recent decisions and resolutions of the G20. In order to do this strategically, the country should utilise its global diplomatic footprints and allies to support and mobilise G20 countries and partners to demonstrate their political will through concrete actions. This should not only be buttressed by setting up outcome-oriented engagements, but by producing measurable and verifiable performance of the G20 members on matters and implementation frameworks agreed upon. Progress and implementation should not be contingent on consensus but on building coalitions of the willing and like-minded countries and partners within and outside the grouping.

The return of President Donald Trump to the oval office in the United States will surely present inexorable challenges in relation to the G20 priority issues and decision-making, as his grand policy is already well-known both domestically and internationally, that is, “America first”. Therefore it is to be expected that any G20 decision or commitment that is deemed by the Trump Administration as either threating or weaking U.S. influence will be thwarted. However, as unfortunate and undesirable that situation would be, it should not be allowed to frustrate progress of the grouping in addressing pressing developmental challenges. Time for extended hours of boardroom diplomacy should be traded for more practical and tangible implementation of the global developmental agenda. National politicking should not be permitted to successfully dissuade the achievement of targets SDG 17, which are premised on strong international partnerships for development.