The G7 Leader’s Summit: our verdict

The G7 Summit, held in Kananaskis, Alberta under Canadian leadership, concluded last week.

As anticipated, there was a high degree of compromise in agenda setting, accommodating the US administration’s interests, and a risk of not showing up.

As with the recent FFD4 (Financing for Development) negotiations, the USA walked out of the summit after day one. This resulted in the annual G7 Heads of States communique being replaced with six individual statements on the following issues:

Securing critical minerals supply chains
Adopting, powering and sharing AI
Collaborating on quantum innovation
Preventing, fighting and recovering from wildfires
Countering foreign interference, including transnational repression
Fighting transnational crime, such as migrant smuggling

While we recognise the challenging political context, this is far from what global civil society expects from the richest countries at a time when the world is experiencing worsening effects from climate change, democratic backsliding, increasing conflict and deepening inequality.

Despite acknowledging some positive commitments, overall Civil 7 – of which Bond is part – expressed disappointment at the summit, stating that it “fell short of the ambition and unity needed to meet today’s global challenges.

What are the key takeaways for international development?

Conflict and crises

We welcome calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and protection of civilians in the Middle East, but the absence of strong commitments to restore humanitarian access and uphold international humanitarian law is deeply troubling.

While ongoing support to Ukraine was reconfirmed, silence on other urgent contexts, including Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Myanmar and Yemen, ignores the needs of millions of people facing displacement, violence and hunger.

ODA and debt

According to Oxfam, by 2026, the collective amount of Official Development Assistance (ODA) provided by the G7 will have reduced by 28% compared to 2024. Despite this, shrinking ODA and low- and middle-income countries’ increasing need for development and climate finance were not addressed.

There was no mention of hunger, food, poverty, water, nutrition or inequality in the summit’s outcome documents. Failure to address the interlinked crises of hunger, climate change, inequality and conflict is shortsighted, and it poses a risk to global peace, security and prosperity. While debt was recognised as an issue, it is astonishing that the G7 leaders’ response was limited to a single sentence, included in the Critical Minerals action plan on “improving G20 common framework”. This is far from what global civil society expects from the G7 on debt justice.

Critical minerals

The G7 Critical Minerals action plan raises questions around balancing geopolitical competition, extraction and the energy security of G7 countries with the green energy needs of the critical minerals’ source countries and the rights of Indigenous communities and their lands.

Gender equality

There was notable absence of gender equality in the G7 statements, indicating a lack of leadership to resist attacks on the rights of women and girls in all their diversity across the world. As the Gender and Development Network (GADN) states, this signifies a backsliding on commitments around gender equality compared to past G7 presidencies. In 2022, for example, the G7 recognised the role of care work, and in 2023 made a commitment to address structural barriers to gender equality.

Climate change

Although climate was integrated into the agenda through wildfires framing, the G7 failed to address its outstanding commitments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, scale climate finance (especially for the Loss and Damage Fund), increase funding for adaptation and support faster transition to clean energy.

Open societies

As we face shrinking civic space across G7 countries and around the world, it was disappointing to see no acknowledgment of the role of civil society and open civic space in upholding democratic values. Despite this, we will keep the G7 accountable to its G7 2021 Open Societies Statement to protect democracy, human rights and freedom of speech and expression.

Next steps

We remain hopeful that the G7 Development Ministerial provisionally scheduled for this autumn will take place and provide space to bring international development issues back on the G7 countries’ agenda.

The wider view from civil society

For more on this, here are some of the key civil society responses to the summit, plus the G7 outcome documents.