By Elin Lorimer, Climate Change Policy Consultant
Linking local realities to the global agenda
As South Africa’s G20 presidency enters its final stretch, it’s a timely moment to reflect on what this multilateral forum means for climate and development – and whether it offers real space for local perspectives to be heard.
For those working on climate justice and inclusive development, the G20 remains a challenging space to engage, but also one where linking global agendas to local realities is urgently needed. While opportunities for engagement are limited, they can exist, particularly if we help to create them.
The G20 brings together the world’s largest economies – its members account for over 80% of global GDP, population, and climate emissions. Many developed countries with climate finance obligations under the UN Climate Convention are G20 members or represented through regional bodies, making G20 discussions influential ahead of the annual UN climate negotiations.
Although the G20 doesn’t directly implement policies, it plays a powerful agenda-setting role and can steer multilateral institutions through its signals and decisions.
A progressive agenda – but who benefits ?
South Africa’s G20 presidency has put forward a progressive agenda centred on Africa’s development, with key themes like disaster risk, debt sustainability, food security and the local beneficiation of critical minerals. Climate change features prominently across several working groups.
However, many local stakeholders remain sceptical about whether this agenda will deliver local benefits. Discussions on “local beneficiation” and food security often prioritise national interest, large-scale agriculture, or trade flows, leaving local community needs underrepresented. And while adaptation finance is on the agenda, many developed countries remain hesitant to commit, particularly during a time of shrinking aid budgets and growing multilateral fragmentation.
Civil Society engaging from the sidelines
The G20, established as a forum for finance ministries and central banks, has historically excluded local voices. While stakeholder engagement takes place through various “engagement groups”, this year’s Civil 20 (C20) has faced contestation and concerns around inclusivity.
That said, there have been efforts to broaden participation. Think tanks and academics typically provide technical input to working groups, and the Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group recently hosted a science-policy dialogue in Cape Town that included civil society voices. South Africa also plans to host a “G20 Social” ahead of the Leaders’ Summit, although its influence on official outcomes remains unclear.
Much of the real action for civil society continues to happen on the sidelines, through side events, roundtables, or creative public campaigns. Broader advocacy efforts and alternative spaces like the G20 People’s Summit, held this year under the banner “We, the 99”, can create spaces for civil society and community voices. With global attention on the G20, this is a key moment to amplify local demands through media, op-eds, and other forms of public engagement.
Highlighting climate priorities
Climate campaigning around the G20 must always focus on parallel priorities: on the one hand accelerating the shift to sustainable energy and phasing out fossil fuels, while at the same time increasing support for communities already facing climate impacts through adaptation and loss and damage funding.
The push for sustainable energy is critical, given G20 countries’ emissions profiles. But progress is challenging, both due to the broader multilateral context and South Africa’s internal energy politics. Although the G20 has called for phasing out “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies since 2009, the issue is notably absent this year, despite strong evidence that ending fossil fuel subsidies is among the fastest, most cost-effective ways to cut emissions, improve air quality, and free up public finance for climate action.
At the same time, adaptation remains the top priority for African and other developing countries, along with the finance urgently needed to deliver it.
Despite global commitments to balance funding between mitigation and adaptation, adaptation receives only a fraction of available climate finance – both globally and in South Africa. Unlike renewable energy projects, the benefits of adaptation initiatives are harder to demonstrated to private investors, making them heavily reliant on limited public grant funding.
Access to that funding, especially at the local level, remains deeply constrained. Local governments and communities often lack the financial infrastructure, institutional support, or visibility to tap into existing funding mechanisms.
Despite this, we already know some of what works.
Local experience, global lessons
Adaptation is context-specific, but experience shows that with the right support, local solutions can be both effective and scalable. South Africa has valuable lessons to offer the global community. In my own research on adaptation finance, including a small grants programme funded by the Adaptation Fund and implemented by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), I have seen how relatively small amounts of funding, if well-designed, can go a long way. When designed well, small grants can enable meaningful outcomes for communities.
With access to flexible, appropriately-sized funding, along with tools like accurate forecasts, early warning systems, resilient infrastructure, and sustained technical support, local adaptation strategies can thrive—even in uncertain conditions.
The G20 is a venue to amplify these kinds of lessons.
What can philanthropy do?
So, how can philanthropy organisations contribute to progressive climate outcomes during South Africa’s G20 presidency? Here are a few strategic entry points:
- Amplify progressive messaging: Funders with local experience can help shape global narratives and multilateral practice, especially on finance.
- Create space for dialogue: Support platforms where communities, civil society, and decision-makers engage directly.
- Enable participation: Many organisations weren’t planning for G20 engagement and lack the resources to participate. Targeted support matters.
- Be flexible and responsive: The G20 moves quickly. Agile, short-term grants can help partners respond to fast-evolving opportunities.
- Support local-to-global learning: Help elevate insights from the ground into multilateral discussions.
- Look beyond 2025: Invest in long-term civil society capacity for global climate engagement.
- Be strategic in your engagement: Support messaging across different spaces, form formal engagement groups to side events, media, and grassroots platforms.
Using the G20 moment.
As South Africa’s G20 presidency draws to a close, the question is not just whether local voices are being heard, but whether we are doing enough to ensure they can be heard
The G20, while an imperfect structure, remains an important influence on global economic and climate policy. It’s worth using this opportunity to engage critically, creatively, and collectively.
For those working at the intersection of climate justice, development, and community empowerment, this is a moment to connect global ambition with grounded realities. And while the space for influence may be limited, it is not closed.
Through coordinated advocacy, flexible support, and stronger collaboration between civil society and philanthropy, we can ensure that local priorities, especially on adaptation, are part of the G20 conversation. It’s also a chance to shift the narrative: adaptation finance isn’t just about how much is allocated, but how funding is designed, delivered, and accessed on the ground.