Draghi – Biden – Macron – von der Leyen – Photo © European Union 2021
(CARBIS BAY) – At the end of the three-day summit in Cornwall, UK, G7 leaders committed to improving global access to COVID-19 vaccines, strengthening the global health system, and ensuring ambitious climate action.
At the meeting the G7 leaders discussed a wide range of pressing topics, including COVID-19, pandemic preparedness and economic recovery; geopolitical challenges and foreign affairs; trade and development; promoting open societies and democratic values; and fighting climate change and protecting the environment.
The summit took place under the UK presidency of the G7, whose overarching theme is ‘Building Back Better’ from the pandemic. The UK invited leaders from Australia, India, South Korea and South Africa to attend part of the meeting as guest countries.
The leaders set a collective goal of ending the pandemic in 2022. This will require vaccinating at least 60 per cent of the global population.
Accelerating the rollout of safe and effective, accessible and affordable vaccines is therefore an international priority for the G7.
The G7 committed to providing one billion vaccine doses over the next year. These will primarily be channelled through COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), towards those in greatest need. Taken together with the dose equivalent of G7 financial contributions of US$8.6 billion, this provides for a G7 total of over two billion vaccine doses.
Emphasising the need for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, the G7 leaders committed to supporting manufacturing of COVID-19 tools in low-income countries and accelerating manufacturing on all continents. They will engage constructively with discussions at the WTO on the role of intellectual property, including by working consistently within the TRIPS agreement.
How to be better prepared for future pandemics and tackle long-standing global health threats was at the heart of discussions on global health. The G7 leaders acknowledged their particular role and responsibilities in strengthening the global health and health security architecture.
The G7 leaders welcomed the Rome Declaration adopted at the Global Health Summit on 21 May. They look forward to working with the G20 and relevant international organisations to seek multilateral action on pandemic preparedness and response, including exploring the potential value of a treaty on pandemics.
The leaders also adopted the Carbis Bay Health Declaration, which sets out a G7 commitment to better prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from, future pandemics through effective multilateral action and a strengthened global health system, with the World Health Organization (WHO) at its centre.
On economic recovery, the leaders endorsed the creation of a global corporate minimum tax of at least 15 per cent on a country-by-country basis, through the G20/OECD inclusive framework. The goal is to reach an agreement at the July meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors.
On trade, the leaders agreed on the need for a shared vision for a reform of the multilateral trading system, with a modernised rulebook and a reformed World Trade Organization (WTO) at its centre. In this context they highlighted the importance of a proper functioning of the WTO’s negotiating function and dispute settlement system.
On climate, the G7 say it will continue to increase their efforts to keep a limit of 1.5°C temperature rise within reach. The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement and collectively committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible and by 2050 at the latest.
On climate finance, the G7 reaffirmed the collective developed country goal to jointly mobilise US$100 billion per year from public and private sources, through to 2025 in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation.
2021 G7 Leaders’ communiqué: Our shared agenda for global action to build back better
