ABSTRACT

The article examines the role that the Group of Twenty (G20) has so far played in fostering progress towards achieving economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable global growth and development. It finds that, at present, the G20 as a group functions primarily as an informal policy-debating club. Therefore, considering the urgency of the global challenges we confront and the tremendous resources G20 members possess, it argues for those G20 members willing to do so to re-strengthen their engagement on the operational side of international cooperation and act again as a force of crisis management, as they did at the height of the 2007–2008 financial crisis. More specifically, the proposal is for willing G20 members to act as lead investors in strategically selected global mission-oriented projects. The article also discusses what might spark G20 members’ interest to play a more pro-active operational role and shows that it would simply be ‘realistic self-interest’.