In mid-2019 the King Abdullah
Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) and the King Faisal Center for
Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS) were appointed co-hosts of the Think 20
(T20), the engagement group that serves as the G20’s ‘ideas bank.’ I was honored
to be appointed T20 Chair, and it has been a privilege to oversee such a momentous
and large-scale undertaking. It has brought together over 600 authors and global
policy experts, representing 56 countries and 440 institutions to help world leaders address global problems. We
have generated many actionable policy proposals in 146 policy briefs that have
the potential to benefit the world in many ways. These policy briefs have been
condensed into the 32 proposals of the T20 Communiqué, which were presented to the G20 Secretariat at
the T20 Summit, on October 31 and November 1. These proposals provide solutions
to the most pressing global challenges
facing countries today and are guided
by T20 Saudi Arabia’s vision of
striving for a future of prosperity,
sustainability and inclusion.
We had planned to host many
T20 events, including the T20 Summit, physically. Our Inception Conference was
a tremendous success. The global spread of COVID-19 soon after disrupted many of our plans, but it enabled
new ways of working. Though travel was obviously very difficult, we held many
meetings and webinars online with our colleagues and partner institutions. The
impact of the pandemic both exacerbated existing issues facing the world and
created new ones. We responded to this new global paradigm with the creation of
an additional task force, Task Force 11: (COVID-19) Multidisciplinary
Approaches to Complex Problems.
The T20 feeds into the G20
process through facilitating
interactions among G20 members and the policy community, generating concrete and feasible policy recommendations, assessing G20 results and guiding
G20 policymaking, and communicating
with the broader public about issues of global importance. The five themes of T20 Saudi Arabia were
Climate and Environment; Women and Youth; Multilateralism; Economic Development
and Finance; Sustainable Resources, and Technology and Digitalization.
The
COVID-19 pandemic has reconfirmed what was already well established: Health is a global public good, and it
can only be achieved effectively through worldwide partnerships and cooperation. We are as strong as our weakest link. Only through our shared responsibility can we achieve
global preparedness for shared
emergencies. We have called on the G20 to reaffirm the significance of health as a global public good, embrace comprehensive and universal healthcare coverage, and promote
global solidarity and multilateralism
in response to COVID-19. There have been nearly 40 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 1 million deaths reported to the World Health Organization.
This tragic loss of life and the
suffering of people around the world, as well as the disruptions to our economies and societies, has been a
powerful reminder of our shared
vulnerabilities. These are unprecedented
times that call for unprecedented
collective action.
COVID-19 has also been
responsible for the cancellation of many global events, including the climate-focused
COP26 and the biodiversity-focused COP15. Climate change is an urgent global crisis. The G20 must reinforce
the need to keep commitments on climate
change and biodiversity at the forefront of the global agenda. To
achieve this, we recommended utilizing
a circular carbon economy approach to ensure carbon-neutral energy
transitions, strengthening cooperation
on climate action to support sustainable and climate-resilient economic
growth and recovery, and protecting,
conserving and restoring biodiversity.
The coronavirus pandemic is being felt most harshly by our most vulnerable populations – women, youth, the poor and the elderly. The international community must take urgent action to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic does not exacerbate social divisions and thus contribute to global instability. Humans are our greatest assets. To promote empowerment and economic equity for women, youth, and vulnerable groups, we called on the G20 to increase funding for innovative educational solutions that meet the needs of today’s youth while creating conditions to prevent future education losses. We also recommended that the G20 countries coordinate government policies to limit the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis, adapting international efforts to support the most vulnerable nations and at-risk populations, and develop policies that protect the physical health and economic wellbeing of migrant workers, preparing them for more stable and prosperous futures.
Global
economic concerns and financial distress require multilateral solutions. The G20
must consider ways to better support
and cooperate with multilateral organizations so that they serve their
purposes in an efficient, inclusive,
and sustainable manner. We called on the G20 to institute internal reforms to ensure the sustainability and legitimacy of the rules-based multilateral order and improve multilateral
cooperation among G20 members and non-members alike. We also recommended the scale-up of multilateral G20 stakeholder
engagement to tackle existing policy challenges that affect the global
economy, such as public health, climate
change, and global conflict. Lastly, we recommended that the G20 promote
innovative frameworks that help bridge the investment gap for sustainable and resilient infrastructure.
Growing levels of intranational income and wealth inequality,
and changes in the structure of global trade, demographics, and immigration
have led to the erosion of social
cohesion within many states. Cohesive
societies lay the foundation for the health of nations. We called on the
G20 to adopt a holistic approach
to implementing the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals, including integrating common social values and shared
faith-based principles. We also
recommended that the G20 take measures to mitigate the adverse effects
of demographic transitions, and work
toward coordinated tax reform as a means of addressing growing levels of
inequality that threaten social cohesion.
Food,
water, and energy are core pillars of economic prosperity. As such,
the affordability, sustainability, and
security of these resources are central to geopolitical and economic
discourse. We called on the G20 to promote
measures that support technology and innovation to create a sustainable
and stable global food market, preserve
energy security and market stability to ensure a prosperous future, and overcome policy fragmentation and
promote innovation to facilitate a sustainable water-energy-food nexus.
This pandemic has highlighted
the value of the digital world. G20-informed policy agendas, regulatory
mechanisms, tools, and innovations must adapt to the impact of digitalization on humanity, including its social and
economic ecosystems. To harness the
potential of digital technologies for all, we have called on the G20 to support the construction of norms and
standards to tackle new challenges impacting the global economy, such as
artificial intelligence and cyberspace.
We have also recommended that G20 countries extend digital financial literacy
to disadvantaged groups – including forcibly displaced populations – to
achieve equitable financial inclusion in the digital age, and ensure a safe and secure online ecosystem
that protects citizens’ autonomy – particularly that of children and youth.
The T20’s legacy has been
passed from Japan to Saudi Arabia, and it will now be extended
to Italy and India. With a hopeful mind for the future, we pass the torch to our Italian partners and wish them the
best of luck with T20 Italy 2021. We
stand ready to assist the T20’s future work and help lay solid
foundations for a future of prosperity,
sustainability and inclusion.
Dr. Fahad M. Alturki is Vice President, Head of Research at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies & Research Center (KAPSARC) and is the T20 Chair, Saudi Arabia
