The Poor Show of the Richest

The G7 summit fails in offering a clear roadmap to tackle global challenges

The G7, as the name suggests it’s a group of seven countries. Together, they represent 40 per cent of the global GDP, that’s almost $40 trillion. They account for around one-tenth of the world’s population. Some of the world’s most powerful nations are members of the G7, this list includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

These countries are the movers and shakers when it comes to world politics. There is no doubt that this is a very powerful group. The problem is that this group doesn’t punch one force, there is little that they all can agree on. The G7 calls itself the leader of the world, the representative of the world’s leading democracies but this argument is not watertight, big democracies like Australia, New Zealand and Brazil are not part of the group. Alongside, disagreements within the group have increased. For example, a couple of years ago, US President Donald Trump clashed with the rest on trade and climate change.

The ultimate criticism of the G7 is that it doesn’t reflect the current reality, no members from Africa, Latin America or the southern hemisphere — no members from fast-growing economies like China, India and Brazil. No consensus. It’s a high table of the elite that gains to invite some non-members sometimes.

This year was no different too as Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal, and South Africa were invited to attend the event, but were not asked to sit at the table to discuss world issues with the big seven. What exactly did it achieve? Frankly, it’s hard to comprehend. The G7 leaders had a lot to talk about but very little to offer on Russia. They discussed setting price caps on fuel but left out details on how that would work. On China, they promised to end their reliance on Beijing but the UK is not too thrilled about this, it wants to continue doing business with Beijing.

Then we come to climate change, the G7 promised to set up a new climate club but there are no timelines, no clues on who the members will be. So, what exactly did this summit achieve?

A political banter by the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson; impromptu encounter between the US President Joe Biden and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi; a bit of bromance between French President Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson; the death of the necktie and scenic lake walks for the spouses; were these the biggest highlights of the G7 summit? Well, yes and no. They made some announcements which are being taken with more than a pinch of salt. There is a question mark on the relevance of this body.

The G7 has been around for more than four decades. It has served little purpose other than keeping diplomats of its member states busy. When it was formed, it was supposed to represent the world’s biggest economies but it remains a clique of a few Western countries; some of whom no longer enjoy the same cloud. Canada’s economy is not bigger than Australia’s. Italy’s GDP is not larger than India’s, yet they remain the core members of this body as the others are relegated to the status of observers.

This group of seven has always been divided on how to tackle the world’s problems. This year’s summit was more of the same; the leaders had plenty to talk about but little to offer for the war in Ukraine. They decided to expand their sanctions against Russia. They also spoke about setting up stringent fuel price caps on Russian oil but left out details on how these caps would work. They have promised more discussion in the weeks ahead. Analysts say the plan may never really work. According to an American attorney and an economist, Douglas Rediker, “That is a very ‘clever’ idea and I use clever in quotes in that statement meaning it’s probably too clever to sustain real-world implementation risk.”

On climate change, the G7 decided to create a new climate club to help nations take more ambitious action. The aim will be to keep greenhouse gas emissions at a bare minimum. When will this club be set up? The details were not finalised. Who all will be the members? That will be decided later this year. Climate activists are slamming the G7 for making such vague pledges. A climate activist, Nico Wagner said, “If you look at the G7 states, all they do is create profit and everything else has a lower priority. Our health is a lower priority, our security is a lower priority and climate is also a lower priority.

On China the G7 led by the United States, unveiled a $600 billion plan to rival the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The aim is to reduce China’s dominance in the developing world. Also, the West’s reliance on Chinese investments. Most G7 nations are for it, but Boris Johnson is not. In an interview on the sidelines of the summit, he said, “The G7 needs to balance its values with doing business with China.” Why? Because China, he says, is a gigantic part of their lives. In other words, you can slam China all you want but cannot stop doing business with it.

So, at the end of the day this is what the G7 summit had to offer; an unclear roadmap to tackle Russia, vague pledges for the climate, differing views on China and a lot of photo ops. The richest nations in the world put up a poor show of leadership.