Corporate Influence on the G20

The case of the B20 and transnational business networks

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Over the past eight years, the G20 has emerged as one of the most prominent political fora for international cooperation, far beyond its original mandate to tackle the global economic and financial crisis of 2007/2008. Today its agenda covers financial and economic issues, investment (particularly in infrastructure), labour market and employment policy, the opportunities and challenges of digital technology, climate change, development, agriculture, global health, migration, counter-terrorism, and other issues of global significance.

For transnational corporations and their national and international associations and lobby groups, the G20 process provides important opportunities to engage with the world’s most powerful governments on a regular basis, shape their discourse, and influence their decisions. For this purpose, business actors have created a broad network of alliances and fora around the G20, with the Business20 (B20) as the most visible symbol of corporate engagement.

Read more about the influence of the B20 in the following study.

Product details

Date of Publication

March 2017

Publisher

Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and Global Policy Forum

Number of Pages

Licence

CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0

ISBN / DOI

978-3-943126-32-7

Table of contents

Executive Summary
I. Introduction: The G20 in the global governance architecture
II. Broadening legitimacy? The Engagement Groups of the G20
III. The G20 on the business agenda – key actors and institutions
- The Business 20
- The International Chamber of Commerce
- Further channels of corporate influence
  - The G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance
  - The G20 Agricultural Entrepreneurs Forum
  - McKinsey & Company
  - The special role of Bill Gates and his foundation
IV. Key messages of business actors to the G20 –and what’s wrong with them
- Obsession with economic growth at the expense of the environment
- Pushing for deregulation and investor interests
- Promoting Public Private Partnerships and private finance of public infrastructure
- Preferential treatment for the business lobby in global governance
V. Conclusions: Time to counterbalance corporate influence in the G20 54
Literature
Acronyms
Annex I: Overlapping interests: B20 Recommendations and G20 Leaders’ Communiqué 2016
Annex II: The Engagement Groups of the G20
Boxes, tables and charts
Box 1 A brief history of the G20
Box 2 Criticism of the G20
Box 3 Members of the ICC G20 CEO Advisory Group
Table 1 B20 thematic priorities/ topics of the B20 taskforces
Table 2 Regional distribution of B20 Taskforce participants 2016
Table 3 Leadership and Partners of German B20 Taskforces 2017
Chart 1 Organizational structure of the German B20