The world’s 20 most powerful economies, the G20 – currently led by South Africa – face mounting pressure to slash greenhouse gas emissions and help nations adapt to climate change. Economist and international affairs specialist Gaylor Montmasson-Clair co-heads the think-and-do tank Southern Transitions and also co-chairs the G20’s Think 20. This group advises on climate, energy and environmental transition policies. He points out that the G20 is not just another talk shop – it represents 85% of the global economy and three-quarters of world trade – and argues that if the G20 acts decisively, the ripple effects will be immediate and immense. Here, he lays out the four urgent steps the G20 must take to adapt the world to the new climate future.

1. Getting climate adaptation the funding it needs

Climate events are no longer sporadic or individual. Floods, fires, droughts and storms overlap, causing mass human migration and increasing geopolitical tensions. In 2024 alone, climate disasters caused over US$200 billion in direct losses globally. These losses rise to more than US$2.3 trillion when the cascading costs of damage to ecosystems are taken into account.

Developing countries are hardest hit, needing to find billions of dollars to repair the damage caused by climate disasters while receiving very little in the way of climate finance to do this or to adapt for the future.

The Think 20 group recommends that G20 nations pool their resources and make sure that funding reaches local communities. This should be in the form of grants and concessional resources (such as local currency loans with very low interest rates).

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If the G20 did this, farmers could access affordable insurance against crop failure. Informal settlements in fast-growing cities could be protected by flood-resilient infrastructure. Women-led cooperatives in rural areas could invest in climate-smart agriculture, securing food systems for millions.

The climate crisis knows no borders. The global response needs to reflect this reality. By reforming multilateral climate finance and creating direct pipelines of funds to communities so that they can prepare for climate disasters, the G20 could transform the global response to looming climate events.

The financing mechanisms are available. South Africa’s G20 presidency offers a unique moment to champion this.

2. Sourcing, processing and trading minerals in ways that protect people and the planet

Minerals like manganese, nickel, cobalt, vanadium and lithium are essential for products like electric vehicles, solar panels and batteries. Demand for these will skyrocket in the coming years.

Low- and middle-income countries host the vast majority of these mineral resources. Yet, to date, most have only reaped minimal benefits from their mineral endowment. And countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (cobalt and copper mining) and Guinea (bauxite mining) have borne significant economic, social and environmental damage.

Read more: DRC: history is repeating itself in Lubumbashi as the world scrambles for minerals to go green

The surge in demand for these minerals presents an opportunity for resource-rich nations to change the historically unequal exchange. But time is of the essence.

The G20 should set up a new framework of governance over the whole critical mineral supply chain. This should compel a reset of supplier-consumer relationships so that they stop being exploitative and become mutually beneficial and inclusive partnerships.

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For example, equitable value chains could be set up. If resource-rich nations across Africa and the rest of the global south were protected by fair and transparent trade terms, more mineral benefits would stay in local communities.

This would also make economic sense, because co-operating around critical minerals will prevent social conflicts, human rights violations or policy and regulatory blockages that can disturb supply chains.

We also recommend that partnership agreements be made publicly available. This would mean better accountability.

3. A just transition: include everyone in the shift from fossil fuels

The Think 20 group believes the transition to renewable energy must be a “whole-of-society, whole-of-economy” just transition. The shift away from fossil fuels like coal and oil must link climate action and resilience with sustainable development, across all sectors, geographies and social groups.

For example, in South Africa’s Mpumalanga region, as in other coal-based locations, communities rely on coal mining and coal-fired power plants for their livelihoods. But these activities also generate significant socio-economic damage, from health issues to ecological degradation and economic dependency.

Read more: South Africa's coal workers face an uncertain future – Mpumalanga study flags they're being left out of the green transition

The transition to renewable energy will not be just and fair if it means shutting down coal mines and power plants without a proper plan to rehabilitate polluted areas and create new jobs for coal workers. To do so would be an act of economic violence with grave consequences.

The Think 20 group has recommended that the G20 should rally behind a people-centred approach. This needs to be funded to retrain workers who are being moved out of fossil-fuel industries, so that they can take up new (green) opportunities.

Read more: Fossil fuels are still subsidised: G20 could push for the funds to be shifted to cleaner energy

A people-centred approach also requires that everyone has access to clean energy. And it must involve sincere public participation so that communities like those in Mpumalanga can help design their own future instead of having it imposed on them.

Global south countries, including all African nations, also need to be given access to technologies, skills and finance that would jumpstart green industrialisation (the process of developing new “green” industries and transforming existing activities to use sustainable practices).

4. Tackling nature, climate and development problems together

When soils degrade, crops fail. When forests are destroyed, biodiversity vanishes, the climate worsens and forest-dependent people see their livelihoods disappear. When wetlands are drained, floods become more severe. The bald truth is that we cannot keep destroying the ecosystems on which human life depends.

The G20 must treat biodiversity, climate and development as one interconnected puzzle. We recommend the rapid establishment of nature-based solutions. Some examples of these are restored wetlands that also drive economic growth through responsible tourism, or coastal management that supports fishing communities’ livelihoods using natural dune management instead of sea walls.

Read more: Urban greening in Africa will help to build climate resilience -- planners and governments need to work with nature

Research shows that these could provide over a third of the greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed to achieve climate goals. They could generate over US$10 trillion in annual economic value by 2030. But they are not being funded nearly enough.

The swift implementation of the G20 Roadmap Towards Better, Bigger, and More Effective Multilateral Development Banks should be prioritised. This roadmap sets out 12 recommendations for multilateral development banks to follow so that they channel funds towards sustainable development.

5. What needs to happen next

Solidarity, equality and sustainability, the theme of South African G20 Presidency, should be at the core of what happens.

If the G20 acted boldly on the four fronts I have discussed here, the outcomes would be transformative. Mining value chains that uplift instead of exploit. Adaptation finance that protects the vulnerable. Energy transitions that empower workers. Development that heals rather than hurts the living systems on which we all depend.

(The G20’s T20 Task Force Five is jointly co-chaired by Celine Kauffmann, chief programmes officer of French policy research institute IDDRI, and Maiara Folly, executive director and co-founder of Brazilian policy institute Plataforma CIPÓ.)

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Gaylor Montmasson-Clair, University of Johannesburg

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Gaylor Montmasson-Clair is a co-founder and director of Southern Transitions, a Global South 'just transition' think-and-do-tank.