Africa’s Voice at the G20: Will Johannesburg Deliver?

South Africa's G20 presidency has focused on four key priorities for Africa: debt sustainability, climate and energy transitions, disaster resilience, and the sustainable use of critical minerals. While some progress was made on disaster resilience, consensus on climate finance remained elusive. The presidency also sought to address the high cost of capital and promote inclusive growth through critical minerals and the African Continental Free Trade Area. Despite these efforts, the document suggests that the Johannesburg Summit is unlikely to fully realize these ambitions due to geopolitical tensions and a lack of consensus among G20 members on climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals.

• South Africa identified four primary priorities for its G20 presidency: debt sustainability for low-income countries, climate and energy transitions, disaster resilience and response, and the use of critical minerals for inclusive growth.
• Efforts to address sovereign debt sustainability face significant hurdles; the G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments has been slow, with only four countries—all in Africa—having applied. While the African Union Declaration on Debt in May 2025 called for a comprehensive restructuring approach, the G20 is expected to pursue only incremental improvements to the existing framework this year.
• Progress on climate and energy transitions has been stalled by a lack of consensus among G20 ministers, resulting in only chair's summaries rather than formal agreements. In contrast, the priority of disaster resilience saw more success with the adoption of a ministerial declaration focusing on resource mobilization and ex ante risk reduction.
• South Africa is promoting a voluntary G20 Critical Minerals Framework to ensure that Africa's mineral wealth leads to industrialization and value addition, rather than repeating historical cycles of resource extraction by external actors. This goal aligns with the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area to create regional value chains.
• The Johannesburg Summit is expected to produce a declaration, but the presidency's broader ambitions are unlikely to be fully realized because some G20 members dispute the validity of the Sustainable Development Goals and climate change.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2025). Africa’s Voice at the G20: Will Johannesburg Deliver? https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-voice-at-the-g20-will-johannesburg-deliver/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Africa’s Voice at the G20: Will Johannesburg Deliver? 2025. https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-voice-at-the-g20-will-johannesburg-deliver/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Africa’s Voice at the G20: Will Johannesburg Deliver? |date=20 November 2025 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-voice-at-the-g20-will-johannesburg-deliver/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2025africas, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Africa’s Voice at the G20: Will Johannesburg Deliver?}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2025}, month = nov, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-voice-at-the-g20-will-johannesburg-deliver/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }