Lauren McGaun
Global leaders are set to meet in Carbis Bay, Cornwall this weekend to discuss some of the world’s most pressing issues in 2021, including climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic and the economy.
G7 – also know as the Group of 7 – constitutes an informal grouping of some of the world’s wealthiest democracies, with leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and the UK present. The group make up 40% of global GDP and are a tenth of the world’s population. Notable arrivals this weekend include French President Emmanuel Macron, US President Joe Biden, and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkell.
“The summit is the first physical gathering for the world leaders since the Covid outbreak began”
Whilst doubts were cast over whether the gathering would even take place, following the spread of the Delta Covid variant in the UK, it was agreed that all appropriate guidelines would be followed to ensure the event could still go ahead. Cornwall has one of the lowest rates of Coronavirus in the country, but there are still concerns the virus could spread due to the summit. Officials will take daily Covid tests, wear masks when appropriate and follow the rule of six indoors.
As anticipation intensifies for the global get-together, the world’s media have descended on Carbis Bay Hotel where the leaders are due to meet, as 6,500 police officers tighten security around the area.
The summit is the first physical gathering for the world leaders since the Covid outbreak began and is Joe Biden’s first overseas trip to the UK since becoming US President. Upon landing on UK soil, Biden pledged that the US was back.
“At every point along the way we are going to make it clear that the United States is back and democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges and the issues that matter most to our future.”
As he spoke to US Air Force Personnel at RAF Mildenhall, he did however stand clear on his position on Northern Ireland, warning Johnson not to place the peace protocol at risk during a Brexit trade war.
As well as contentious discussions over Britain’s trading position post Brexit, leaders also have to flesh out their environmental plans to combat what many campaigners have described as a severe climate emergency. To deliver a strong message to the leaders, sculptor Joe Rush formed a Mount Rushmore lookalike from electronic waste in Cornwall – deliberately called ‘Mount Recyclemore’. The UN estimates that over 53 million tonnes of e-waste were generated worldwide in 2019, and the average global temperate has increased by more than 1°C in the last 140 years.
Whilst Greta Thunberg said on BBC Newsnight this week that Biden’s new term as President showed optimistic progress for tackling the climate emergency, she noted that there was still a long way to go.
Boris Johnson’s latest tweet pledges that the UK will lead the way in becoming “fairer and greener”, yet many have criticised the irony of his remarks. Given, he was pictured boarding a private jet from London to Cornwall – a relatively short 280 mile journey.
I’ve arrived in Cornwall for this year’s @G7 where I’ll be asking my fellow leaders to rise to the challenge of beating the pandemic and building back better, fairer and greener.
It will be a busy and important Summit, and I can’t wait to get started.#G7UK pic.twitter.com/H4VSQ2SCD6
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) June 9, 2021
The outrage to the PM’s perceived inability to grasp the full extent of the climate emergency has also led Extinction Rebellion to organise a number of demonstrations to take place over the weekend. This internal opposition will not be a good look for the PM, who is trying desperately to be seen as a proactive leader in fighting climate change.
The leaders are also likely to push for more vaccine cooperation. Especially for low income countries with poor access to facilities, in a bid to achieve global vaccinations by 2022.
As the G7 look beyond the pandemic, discussions will focus on global preparedness for future pandemics to ensure countries are well equipped to deal with any new viruses.
Last week, G7 finance leaders also signed a historic tax agreement to tackle tax abuses from multinational corporations and help countries to repay debts accrued during the pandemic. This will, for the first time, see a minimum global corporate tax rate come into force. This indicates that the priority is on an economic recovery, and global firms will play a huge part in supporting that.
So why are these minute deals of policy agreements so important?
Whilst the G7 can often be viewed as political theatre as much as having substantive policy debate, this will be the first real test in over a year of the strength of the UK’s global partnerships. The UK-US ‘special relationship’ is set to be placed under a huge amount of scrutiny. This will test the willingness of Biden and Johnson to remain close and loyal neighbours.
Whilst all the countries present have much in common, especially on their desire to see a swift economic bounce back from the pandemic, there are still significant sticking points. Disputes over trade across the Irish sea don’t have an easy remedy, an issue which will make for an uncomfortable discussion between the UK, US and Germany.
“it will also act as a crucial snapshot into the global landscape post pandemic.”
This weekend will see press follow the G7 officials on their every move, testing the diplomacy of the countries. Any rifts or signs of tensions will be clear from meetings and therefore it is in all the leaders’ interests to cooperate swiftly and form global solutions before the summit comes to a close.
This will no doubt be a test for all of the leaders and each will come with their own agenda. Not only will the summit set out policies that show some democratic consensus, but it will also act as a crucial snapshot into the global landscape post pandemic.
The question now remains – which relationships will stand the test of time and prove most committed once the dust has settled on the global summit?
Featured image courtesy of Number 10 on Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
Lauren McGaun
Lauren is a freelance journalist at BBC Politics. She helped set up EJ as Co-Founder and used to be Editor in Chief for over a year. Most evenings you will find her sipping Aperol Spritz whilst watching the news or a documentary.
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