G20-Germany-Hamburg-2017

Strengthening the G20 system
Germany has fully complied at 100 per
cent with commitments on migration
Leaders should include a one-year not
a multi-year timetable in commitments
on macroeconomic policy and a substantial
75 per cent on financial regulation.
Significant compliance comes on
international and development taxation at
78 per cent and 76 per cent, respectively,
and labour and employment at 78 per
cent. Compliance is low on reforming
international financial institutions at
68 per cent and trade at 63 per cent.
The second pillar of improving
sustainability has low compliance of only
66 per cent. It includes health at 77 per
cent, energy at 73 per cent, development
and climate change at 66 per cent each,
gender at 61 per cent, and information and
communications technology at 55 per cent.
The third pillar of assuming
responsibility has solid compliance of 70
per cent. It includes terrorism at 87 per cent,
migration and refugees at 80 per cent, food
and agriculture at 70 per cent, crime and
corruption at 57 per cent, and Africa-related
commitments at 46 per cent.
Among G20 members, host Germany’s
overall compliance is a very strong 84
per cent, ranking second after the United
Kingdom. It also leads the pack on the
critical issue of climate change at 89
Hamburg harbour bridge
1,863
From 2008 to 2015, G20 leaders
made this number of commitments
spanning 23 distinct issue areas
per cent. On other important issues on
the agenda at Hamburg, Germany has
fully complied at 100 per cent with the
commitments on migration and refugees,
Africa and terrorism. It has an average
of 59 per cent on food and agriculture
and 36 per cent on crime and corruption.
Hangzhou highlights
The G20’s overall compliance from the
Hangzhou Summit of 72 per cent is led by
innovation-driven growth at 95 per cent
and macroeconomic policy at 83 per cent.
In the middle come migration and climate
change at 73 per cent and 68 per cent,
respectively. At the bottom come gender at
45 per cent and the phase-out of fossil fuel
subsidies at 10 per cent.
Improving compliance
What can G20 leaders do to improve
compliance? There are several low-cost
accountability measures that help or
hinder compliance that the leaders control.
Key among these are compliance
catalysts. These are words, phrases
or factors that are embedded in a
commitment, providing instructions or
clues about how to implement or comply.
Commitments that referenced a core
international organisation in the same
issue area as the commitment tend to
have higher compliance. Commitments
with a multi-year timetable tend to have
lower compliance, as do those that specify
an agent or refer to international law.
Compliance is also higher when there
is a pre-summit ministerial meeting
responsible on the same subject.
For instance, on climate change,
those commitments that reference the
United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have had
higher compliance. Although the UNFCCC
is a legal framework, its secretariat plays
the role of core international organization
in the absence of any specialised and
independent international environmental
organisation. Conversely, low compliance
with the commitment to phase out
inefficient fossil fuel subsidies is partly
explained by the presence of a multi-year
timetable, which allows leaders to delay.
Thus, to improve compliance, the
G20 leaders at Hamburg should refer to
a core international organisation and
include a one-year rather than a multiyear
timetable in their commitments.
They should also institute pre-summit
ministerial meetings on climate change
and the environment. G20
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