Olusegun Ariyo
Contents
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the G20 leaders to lead with vision and passion to deliver on climate and economic actions.Guterres told journalists in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday, November 21, 2025, ahead of the official opening of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, taking place on African soil for the first time.The two-day summit, which opens on Saturday, comes at a febrile moment in global politics.“Now is the time for leadership and vision,” he said.The G20 bloc is made up of the world’s largest economies, although the United States has announced it will not officially participate.This year’s summit highlights the need for climate adaptation and sustainable financing, under the theme “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability.”The UN chief is attending the summit to push for economic and climate action, as well as an end to spiralling conflicts around the world.Developing countries, in particular in Africa, are suffering from a shrinking fiscal space, crushing debt burdens and a global financial architecture that is failing them, Guterres said.The UN chief lamented that after decades of colonial rule, the continent remains “woefully under-represented” in global institutions.“The G20 can help repair this historic injustice and drive reforms that give developing countries – and Africa in particular – a real voice in shaping global policies, and make global economic governance more inclusive, representative, equitable and effective in the years ahead,” he said.Guterres called on the G20 to live up to commitments made in June at the Financing for Development Conference in where countries promised to unlock more finance to drive sustainable growth.That would entail tripling the lending power of multilateral development banks, reducing borrowing costs and enabling developing countries to mobilise domestic resourcesCountries have failed to keep temperatures to the 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature rise limit, Guterres cautioned.“Avoiding more climate chaos means bridging the adaptation gap – urgently” and that requires a scale-up of financing, namely, the doubling of adaptation financing to at least $40 billion this year.He added that while 90 per cent of new power capacity is coming from renewables, global investment in clean energy reached $2 trillion last year, and only a negligible proportion went to Africa.“Africa should be at the heart of this clean energy revolution,” he pressed.Listing some of the most devastating conflicts around the world, including in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine and Gaza, Guterres called for G20 members to use their influence to end the fighting.“Everywhere – from Haiti to Yemen to Myanmar and beyond – we must choose peace anchored in international law,” he concluded.Meanwhile, Vice-President Kashim Shettima is in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the G20 Leaders’ Summit.The Vice-President, who will represent President Bola Tinubu at the summit, is scheduled to engage foreign leaders and development partners on issues relating to the economy, security, and climate change, among others.On arrival at the Waterkloof Air Force Base in Johannesburg, Shettima was received by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; and Chargé d’Affaires, Amb. Alexander Ajayi.Others are Consul General, Amb. Umar Bashir, the Defence Adviser, Commodore Ibrahim Ari-Gwaska, and the Chief Director, West Africa Directorate, Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), Nyameko Goso.Also at the airport to welcome the Vice-President are the South African Minister of Small Business Development, Ms Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, among other government officials.The summit, scheduled to be held from Nov. 22 to 23 at the Johannesburg Expo Centre, will feature leaders from the world’s top 20 economies.The event will also be attended by the representatives from the European Union, the African Union and key financial institutions.The theme of the two-day summit is “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability,” and will afford participants, including Vice-President Shettima, the opportunity to deliberate extensively on issues concerning the economy, financing for development and debt burden.The Vice-President is expected to hold bilateral meetings during the summit in furtherance of the Renewed Hope Agenda and to discuss regional and international peace, security, and development.
