outh Africa will host the 2025 G20 Johannesburg Summit on 22 and 23 November as the current G20 president. The 2025 summit convenes under the theme of Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability, with a specific focus on disaster resilience, debt sustainability, a “just energy transition,” and sustainable development and growth. However, for any progress to come from the summit, the G20 must first address the ongoing global economic uncertainty, or global inequality will worsen, leaving many countries unable to invest in development. The summit is also calling into question the effectiveness of multilateralism, as the U.S. intends to boycott it completely, and the presidents of Argentina, China, and Russia will not attend—sending representatives instead.
Context
The IMF recently projected that global public debt could exceed 100% of GDP by 2029. This warning includes the G20 major economies Canada, China, France, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the U.S. Low–income countries are at even greater risk, with 55 countries assessed at high levels of fiscal risk. The IMF describes emerging economies as facing “the perfect storm,” as record external debt service burdens and rising borrowing costs threaten their ability to invest in further development. Similarly, according to the OECD’s 2025 Global Debt Report, emerging markets and developing economies face a projected $10 trillion shortfall in the financing needed to achieve the Paris Agreement's 2050 goals. Ongoing geopolitical tensions will also underscore the summit as the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Risk Report highlights state–based armed conflict and geoeconomic confrontation as top global risks for the year.
What’s on the agenda
Heading into the 2025 G20 Summit, here’s what you can expect:
- Climate finance will be a point of contention. The 2025 G20 finance meeting in February, between finance ministers and central bankers, ended without a joint communique. One of the insurmountable issues at the meeting was climate finance. Meanwhile, the March 2025 Sustainable Finance Working Group newsletter highlighted escalating climate risks, including the economic losses from climate disasters, and the need to improve global financial infrastructure through multilateral development banks and the private sector. The newsletter also emphasized the development of a Common Carbon Credit Data Model to improve climate action.
- South Africa is calling for changes to the Common Framework for Debt Treatments. Many experts have been critical of the effectiveness of the G20–developed Common Framework, and as the debt crisis in developing countries worsens, experts are calling for a more transparent and effective plan. The second 2025 meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers approved the idea of reevaluating the Common Framework from the successes and failures of the first four test cases. Ahead of the summit, an African expert panel proposed a debt refinancing plan for low–income countries struggling with heavy debt repayments.
- The U.S. will not be in attendance. Although the U.S. will assume the G20 presidency on 30 November, no U.S. officials will attend the summit. President Trump claimed the boycott is over concerns of “human rights abuses” in South Africa (which have been discredited by the South African president and prominent Afrikaners). Experts suggest that the U.S.’s empty seat might provide opportunities for China or European countries to take on a leadership role. South Africa, especially, could further cement partnerships with other countries at the summit. However, the U.S. is insisting that any summit outcomes be presented as a Chair’s Statement, rather than the leader’s declaration that has been delivered at every previous G20 summit to date.
What they’re saying
- So while the G20 represents 85% of global GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population, its decisions are still largely shaped by the same forces that benefit from global inequality. Public Service and Commercial Union of South Africa Secretary General Tahir Maepa.
- Rich countries are treating the climate crisis as a business opportunity, not a moral obligation. They are lending money to the very people they have historically harmed, trapping vulnerable nations in a cycle of debt. This is a form of crisis profiteering. Oxfam Climate Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi.
- Despite some progress under the G20’s Common Framework, current debt arrangements remain inadequate. Restructuring processes are too slow, debt reductions too shallow and the sharing of responsibility between public and private creditors deeply unequal. 165 civil society groups in a letter to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
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Developing crises in debt, multilateralism in focus at G20
Photo by Simon Hurry on Unsplash
November 21, 2025
The G20 will convene for its annual summit on 22 and 23 November at a time when consensus is hard amid worsening debt and financing crises. Diplomatic Courier’s Stephanie Gull breaks down what to expect.
S
outh Africa will host the 2025 G20 Johannesburg Summit on 22 and 23 November as the current G20 president. The 2025 summit convenes under the theme of Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability, with a specific focus on disaster resilience, debt sustainability, a “just energy transition,” and sustainable development and growth. However, for any progress to come from the summit, the G20 must first address the ongoing global economic uncertainty, or global inequality will worsen, leaving many countries unable to invest in development. The summit is also calling into question the effectiveness of multilateralism, as the U.S. intends to boycott it completely, and the presidents of Argentina, China, and Russia will not attend—sending representatives instead.
Context
The IMF recently projected that global public debt could exceed 100% of GDP by 2029. This warning includes the G20 major economies Canada, China, France, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the U.S. Low–income countries are at even greater risk, with 55 countries assessed at high levels of fiscal risk. The IMF describes emerging economies as facing “the perfect storm,” as record external debt service burdens and rising borrowing costs threaten their ability to invest in further development. Similarly, according to the OECD’s 2025 Global Debt Report, emerging markets and developing economies face a projected $10 trillion shortfall in the financing needed to achieve the Paris Agreement's 2050 goals. Ongoing geopolitical tensions will also underscore the summit as the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Risk Report highlights state–based armed conflict and geoeconomic confrontation as top global risks for the year.
What’s on the agenda
Heading into the 2025 G20 Summit, here’s what you can expect:
- Climate finance will be a point of contention. The 2025 G20 finance meeting in February, between finance ministers and central bankers, ended without a joint communique. One of the insurmountable issues at the meeting was climate finance. Meanwhile, the March 2025 Sustainable Finance Working Group newsletter highlighted escalating climate risks, including the economic losses from climate disasters, and the need to improve global financial infrastructure through multilateral development banks and the private sector. The newsletter also emphasized the development of a Common Carbon Credit Data Model to improve climate action.
- South Africa is calling for changes to the Common Framework for Debt Treatments. Many experts have been critical of the effectiveness of the G20–developed Common Framework, and as the debt crisis in developing countries worsens, experts are calling for a more transparent and effective plan. The second 2025 meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers approved the idea of reevaluating the Common Framework from the successes and failures of the first four test cases. Ahead of the summit, an African expert panel proposed a debt refinancing plan for low–income countries struggling with heavy debt repayments.
- The U.S. will not be in attendance. Although the U.S. will assume the G20 presidency on 30 November, no U.S. officials will attend the summit. President Trump claimed the boycott is over concerns of “human rights abuses” in South Africa (which have been discredited by the South African president and prominent Afrikaners). Experts suggest that the U.S.’s empty seat might provide opportunities for China or European countries to take on a leadership role. South Africa, especially, could further cement partnerships with other countries at the summit. However, the U.S. is insisting that any summit outcomes be presented as a Chair’s Statement, rather than the leader’s declaration that has been delivered at every previous G20 summit to date.
What they’re saying
- So while the G20 represents 85% of global GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population, its decisions are still largely shaped by the same forces that benefit from global inequality. Public Service and Commercial Union of South Africa Secretary General Tahir Maepa.
- Rich countries are treating the climate crisis as a business opportunity, not a moral obligation. They are lending money to the very people they have historically harmed, trapping vulnerable nations in a cycle of debt. This is a form of crisis profiteering. Oxfam Climate Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi.
- Despite some progress under the G20’s Common Framework, current debt arrangements remain inadequate. Restructuring processes are too slow, debt reductions too shallow and the sharing of responsibility between public and private creditors deeply unequal. 165 civil society groups in a letter to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
