Geopolitical concerns have taken centre stage pushing back concerns about climate change. There is the nuclear threat in the Korean peninsula, the threat of deepening trade wars between the USA and China and threats over digital warfare and fake news of all kinds.
The G20 has come a long way in pulling economies back from the brink. Yet, a lot remains to be done in its pursuit of inclusive and sustainable growth. Productivity growth is sluggish, unemployment remains well above pre-crisis levels, inequality is hitting record highs, and environmental risks pose threats worldwide.
In 2015, world leaders set up the most ambitious agendas: the 2030 Agenda and the Paris agreement on climate change. These agendas included commitments to eradicate hunger, and to fight poverty and inequality, leaving no one behind. They also included voluntary obligations to reduce emissions and to adopt serious measures for mitigating and promoting adaptation to the impact of climate change.
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Currently, the US and China are fiercely discussing about the role of developing countries in the World Trade Organization (WTO). At the heart of the discussion is the question whether rising powers like China should benefit from special rights in the WTO. …
Cybersecurity was a prime topic at this year’s Munich Security Conference. If, for instance, the cloud service provider AWS with its 42% market share was successfully attacked, it would take down large parts of the Internet, with impacts worse than kinetic warfare by some measures.
Overall economic losses from cyberattacks are estimated at 600bn $, or 1% of global GDP, with sharp growth rates as all parts of the economy are moving online. Still, these figures reflect just the tip of the iceberg. Many potentials for digital value creation cannot be realized due to lack of trust. Germans, for instance, feel queasy about online banking: Only half of Germans trust the security of digital transactions, stifling uptake of new fintech business models.