G20 Summit in South Africa: Focus on critical minerals, debt relief, and climate action

The G20 summit in South Africa, the first hosted on the African continent, adopted a declaration under the theme 'Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability,' emphasizing global cooperation amid challenges like inequality and climate change. The group, comprising 19 countries plus the EU and AU (representing 85% of global GDP), addressed access to critical minerals essential for green energy transitions, calling to protect supply chains from disruptions such as geopolitical tensions, non-WTO trade measures, pandemics, or disasters. It supported increased exploration in developing countries, particularly Africa, to drive development and value-addition rather than raw exports, amid concerns over China's supply chain dominance. On global conflicts, leaders urged a 'just, comprehensive, and lasting peace' in Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, based on the UN Charter, and to refrain from threats or use of force against sovereignty. Ukraine was mentioned only once, while Western attendees responded to U.S. President Donald Trump's unilateral peace plan favoring Russia; notably, the U.S. boycotted the summit. Prioritizing inequality, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted an expert report and a proposed international panel on wealth disparities, with the declaration stressing the need to address intra- and inter-country wealth and development gaps. It advocated financial reforms for low-income nations burdened by debt, including lender transparency (private sector included), an IMF review, and global minimum taxes, though language on taxing the super-rich was weaker than the prior Rio declaration. On climate, coinciding with COP30's end, it called for scaling climate finance 'from billions to trillions' from all sources, addressing energy access inequalities (especially in Africa), promoting sustainable investments, de-risking, diversification, and early warning systems for climate disasters in vulnerable least-developed countries—without mentioning a fossil fuel phaseout. Overall, the declaration promotes equitable global development but reflects compromises on contentious issues like taxation and energy transitions.