Global Development Policy

This article assesses the G20's performance against its seven commitments to reform the financial sector. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has significant responsibility for carrying out the mandates of the G20 in this sector.

On December 1, 2012, the G20 welcomed its new leadership “troika”– Russia, Mexico, and Australia – the current, past and future presidents, respectively. The Russian G20 Presidency has announced its priorities for the 2013 Summit.G20 Sherpas, or presidential aides, will meet in Moscow in mid-December. At the same time, civil society, think tanks, and business leaders will gather to hammer out recommendations to present to the Sherpas.

Many powerful transnational corporations (TNCs) have growing influence over the governance of resources in sectors, such as energy and agriculture. This paper addresses the strategic dilemmas faced by civil society organizations that address corporate power in their struggles to curb global warming and achieve the human rights, including the rights to food and energy.

In, “The pros and cons of public-private partnerships (PPPs) as a means to achieve food security, expanded infrastructure investment and green growth?" Nancy Alexander provides a background paper on PPPs (part I) and conclusions of a discussion of the paper with the Mexican Foreign Service (part II).

Since the Mexican G20 Summit, the Eurozone crisis and the U.S. slowdown are hitting many emerging and developing countries suffer from declines in industrial output, export growth, trade and inflows of capital.

This month, two events occur back-to-back: the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (“Rio +20”) in Brazil and the Group of 20 (G20) Summit, in Mexico. This paper asks how the powerful G20 might influence outcomes of Rio+20.

The G20 adapted the 20 Year Development Action Plan (DAP) at the summit in Seoul, South Korea. This plan does not include a strategy for Africa's energy future or energy infrastructure plans. An effective process must put more effort on localize energy and use Renewable Energy Technology.

The eurozone crisis hijacked the French G20 Summit and shows every sign of doing the same at the Mexican Summit, as fear of a Greek exit (“Grexit”) from the eurozone morphs into panic over Spain (“Spanic”).

The World Bank's May 2012 volume on "Inclusive Green Growth" has some positive solutions to offer, but falls short in several crucial ways: the lack of emphasis on poverty reduction, equality and human rights; an uncritical regard for market mechanisms to govern asset markets, and a view of infrastructure as the “heart of green growth,” among other things.

The G8 and G20 Summits, which will be held on May 18-19 and June 18-19, respectively, are both being held in remote locations. When the original venue of the G8 Summit was Chicago (just prior to the May 20 NATO Summit in Chicago), major “Occupy” protests were being organized. Then, President Obama decided to move the G8 Summit to Camp David, his presidential retreat in the mountains of the U.S. state of Maryland.