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Analysis

UN Secretary-General Calls for G20 Leadership to Drive Financial Reform, Climate Action and Global Peace

Siobhan Mehrotra, Mahek Kaur and Irene Wu, G20 Research Group
November 22, 2025

The eve before the G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, United Nations secretary-general António Guterres called on G20 leaders to demonstrate “leadership and vision” in addressing rising inequality, escalating conflicts and deepening global crises. He warned that military spending continues to outpace investment in development, while unequal economic growth and shrinking fiscal space are “inflicting suffering around the world.”

Speaking at a press conference at the summit media centre, Guterres emphasized that the international financial system remains fundamentally unjust, particularly for developing countries in Africa, saying global financial institutions were designed during a historical era when African states lacked representation, leaving them disadvantaged both through the extraction of resources and in modern governance structures. He pressed G20 members to reform international financial institutions, governing boards and the UN Security Council to make global governance more representative, highlighting last year’s Pact for the Future as a blueprint for systemic change.

The secretary-general welcomed the South African presidency’s emphasis on economic justice, including its Report on Global Inequality, and called for expanded debt relief based on recommendations from the UN’s expert group. He stressed the need to lower borrowing costs for distressed countries, mobilise domestic resources, and leverage multilateral development banks to unlock private-sector financing. Looking ahead to the June 2025 Seville Financing Conference, he said reform must enable developing countries to access capital safely while reducing investment risk. African economies, he added, must move up global value chains rather than remain “locked out of trade opportunities,” urging G20 economies to “build trade bridges, not trade barriers,” including free trade access for the poorest countries.

On climate action, Guterres said that while a temporary overshoot of the 1.5°C limit is now unavoidable, it must be “as small, short, and safe as possible.” He called for a dramatic scale-up of climate finance beyond 2025, including loss and damage funding, innovative financing instruments and mobilizing the USD1.3 trillion annually by 2035 goal for climate adaptation and mitigation pledge made at the COP29 UN climate conference in Baku in 2024. He urged G20 countries to accelerate the just energy transition, noting that global clean energy investment reached USD2.3 trillion last year, yet only a negligible share went to Africa. Clean energy, he argued, must power homes, schools and industries on the continent, creating jobs and expanding access while aligning national budgets and policies with climate commitments. He warned against greenwashing and misinformation campaigns that obstruct climate progress.

Guterres also emphasized the need for peace grounded in international law. He called for a ceasefire and humanitarian access in Sudan, an end to weapons flows, and negotiations between the Rapid Support Forces and Sudan’s military. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, he advocated solutions that uphold sovereignty while addressing the root causes of violence. He warned that destabilization in the Sahel threatens the entire region. On Ukraine, he reaffirmed that peace must respect territorial integrity and align with UN General Assembly resolutions. On Gaza, he called for upholding the ceasefire and pursuing a two-state solution that ensures self-determination and ends occupation.

Guterres stated that the G20, as a forum representing the world's major economies and emitters, holds the leverage to reshape global finance, accelerate climate action and advance peace grounded in international law. He will press these issues directly with leaders at the summit tomorrow, urging them to match ambition with concrete decisions that deliver a more just and sustainable global order.

Siobhan Mehrotra is an editor with the G20 Research Group, and currently works as a junior analyst at the Treasury Board of Canada.
Irene Wu is co-chair of summit studies at the G20 Research Group, and a fourth-year student at the University of Toronto majoring in peace, conflict and justice studies.
Mahek Kaur is co-chair of summit studies at the G20 Research Group, and a first-year law student in the University of Ottawa’s Common Law program.

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