7 June 2023 – T20 side event – upon invitation by  Prof. Dr. Amrita Narlikar, President of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), and hosted by Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann, head of the GIGA’s Berlin Office –chaired by  Prof. Dr. Sachin Chaturvedi, Director General at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) – showcased the work of the T20 outreach programme and its taskforce “LiFE, Resilience and Values for Wellbeing” The panel  discussion involved a lively, interdisciplinary exchange among the Co-Chairs of the T20 taskforce TF3 (Nicolas Buchoud, Seeta Prabhu and Amrita Narlikar), and with a member of the B20 (Wolfgang Niedermark), together with inputs and questions from the international audience, moderated by Sachin Chaturvedi.

Panelists and key statements:

Wolfgang Niedermar k is a Member of the Executive Board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and is a member of the B20 outreach process.

• Wolfgang Niedermark focused on the impact of geopolitics on business and the issue’s interconnectedness with sustainability.
• With regard to geopolitics, he noted that its rising impact is an inconvenient yet accepted truth for the business community who relied on global trade to generate impressive gains in wealth. In light of the competition between liberal and autocratic regimes, it becomes necessary to define who belongs to the same value family. For the G7 to align with likeminded partners requires the willingness to learn from them, to reach out to them rather than trying to educate them. When partners struggle with specific sustainability or human rights requirements one should resort to incentives rather than to sanctions. Additionally, the Western style growth model has lost its appeal to many countries in the Global South.
• With regard to sustainability, Wolfgang Niedermark noted that offers posed to cooperation partners need to be not only economically powerful, but also sustainable. His generation sees growth as a key element for measuring success. But in sustainability, other measures count. India in its concept for the B20 has focused on lifestyle for environment instead. In analogy to the term digital natives, there is a need for sustainability natives who understand that everything is interconnected, not only humans, but also animals, plants, whole ecosystems. The next generation of leaders has a better understanding of this.

Nicolas Buchoud is the Co-Founder and President of the Grand Paris Alliance for Metropolitan Development, an awarded and independent think tank at the crossroads of inclusion, large-scale investment projects, and environmental transformations. He is also a Global Solutions Fellow.

• Nicolas Buchoud emphasised the need to build convergence in order to address uncertainty and geopolitics as issues that will not disappear overnight. On the one hand, convergence is needed between G20 and G7, as well as its engagement groups, including the T20/T7 and the B20/B7. On the other hand, convergence between G20 formats and national governments is also necessary in order to achieve transformation.
• One example where convergence between all entities was achieved is that of energy transitions. From 2021 onwards, the exchange between T20 and B20 increased. Accompanied by the Indonesian presidency in 2022, the groups were able to take steps towards energy transitions without having to rely on funding by international financial institutions that often deny investments due to the perceived high risk in countries of the Global South. Up until then, the focus on international cooperation often neglected the role of national institutions, especially with regard to implementation.
• Finally, Nicolas Buchoud added the necessity to look at global issues from the perspective of the Global South rather than Western countries. As such, it is beneficial that India is currently holding the G20 presidency, preceded by Indonesia and succeeded by South Africa.

Prof. Dr. Seeta Prabhu is currently a Visiting Professor and Senior Advisor, SDGs, at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. She spearheaded the preparation of Human Development Reports across 26 Indian states as the Head of the Human Development Resource Centre, UNDP, India.

• Prof. Dr. Seeta Prahbu situated the various global crises and geopolitical developments in the context of the climate crisis as existential crisis which threatens the world’s existence.
• The extremely precarious situation the world is in is a result of a growth, extraction, and consumption-oriented development paradigm rather than a resource regeneration and conservation-oriented paradigm.
• To address the crisis, Prof. Seeta Prahbu suggested focusing on the role of cultural values, communities, choice, and conservation. Cultural values should be aimed at establishing a symbiotic rather than an exploitative relationship between humans and nature, as it is the case for numerous traditional and indigenous communities across the globe. The role of communities was highlighted during the Pandemic where individual choice and benefits were outweighed by the need for community-level action. Choice is often understood as a result of individual self-interest when it is in fact related to duty and obligations towards the community. Finally, conservation should be a key goal, also with regard to common good which needs to take precedence over individual preferences. India’s emphasis on behavioral change is thus important.
• Finally, Prof. Seeta Prahbu called for a global dialogue platform where a plurality of stakeholders, including civil society, can jointly address the existential crisis. Only if society accepts the ideas on transformation, institutions can implement them.

Prof. Dr. Amrita Narlikar is the President of the GIGA, Professor of International Relations, and Honorary Fellow of Darwin College (University of Cambridge). She is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Adjunct Senior Fellow, Research in Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), and non-resident Distinguished Fellow of the Australia India Institute.

• Prof. Dr. Amrita Narlikar focused on the interesting and innovative ideas the Indian presidency is bringing to the G20’s negotiation table. She focused on three sets of issues which go back to India’s ancient texts and are also reflected in the work of Taskforce 3: values and interests, global justice and development, and animal ethics and ecologism.
• In International Relations, there is a false dichotomy between values and interests suggesting that interests are pursued independently of values, or if there is commitment to values, this may go against self-interest. The Mahabarata in contrast explains that values and interest go hand in hand. Buy-in to climate protection policies is e.g. higher when populations realise their benefit for both material and moral well-being. Conversely, securing global value chains in a world of weaponised interdependence requires the injection of values to uphold realism.
• When India was not a major economy, it understandably advanced the course of global justice and development. However, India continues to commit to both issues which is also reflected in its current G20 presidency. Areas where this becomes visible are green financing, low per capita CO2 consumption in the Global South, and insistence on reforming the UNSC.
• With regard to animal ethics and ecologism, India has a history of values that are more liberal than those of the West. In contrast to the assumption that all “Asian values” are community-oriented, India traditionally offers a non-anthropocentric world view and values individual interests and rights of all species.
• Finally, Prof. Dr. Amrita Narlikar noted that one should recognise the independent agency of countries from the world-regions, which embrace and “own” the concept of the Global South rather than rejecting the term “from above”.

The event was featured on the GIGA website and widely promoted through the Institute’s social media channels. The video recording of the exchange can be found here:

The event was also featured on the T20 website

In terms of its relevance for our Transfer for Transformation (T4T) project, this event demonstrated the importance of cross-sectoral dialogue (B20-T20; Global South-Global North).