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2019 G7 Biarritz Summit Interim Compliance Report
27 August 2019 to 20 December 2019
Meagan Byrd and Ivan Hsieh
and the G7 Research Group
15 March 2020
The 2019 G7 Biarritz Summit Interim Compliance Report reviews progress made on 21 selected commitments set out at the 2019 Biarritz Summit for the period of 27 August 2019 to 20 December 2019 (see Table A). The preface and summary of the findings are listed below. The summary of the 2019 G7 Biarritz Summit Interim Compliance Scores, with rankings by country and by issue, is available below.
Download the full 318-page report here.
The report contains the following sections, which can be downloaded separately:
Each year since 1996, the G7 Research Group has produced a compliance report on the progress made by the G7 members in meeting the commitments their leaders issue at each summit. Since 2002, the group has usually published an interim report to assess progress at the time of the transition from the outgoing presidency to incoming presidency, in addition to the final report issued just before the annual summit. These reports, which monitor a carefully chosen selection of the many commitments announced at the end of each summit, are offered to the general public and to policy makers, academics, civil society, the media and interested citizens around the world in an effort to make the work of the G7 more transparent and accessible, and to provide scientific data to enable meaningful analysis of this unique and informal institution. Compliance reports are available at the G7 Information Centre website at www.g7.utoronto.ca/compliance.
Based at the University of Toronto and founded in 1987, the G7 Research Group strives to be the leading independent source of information and analysis on the institutions, performance, issues and participants of the G7 summit and system of global governance. It is a global network of scholars, students and professionals. The group oversees the G7 Information Centre, which publishes freely available research on the G7 as well as official documents issued by the G7.
For this compliance report, our researchers selected 21 priority commitments from the total 71 commitments made by the leaders at the Biarritz Summit hosted by France on 24–26 August 2019. This interim report covers G7 members' actions that count as compliance with these commitments between 27 August 2018 until 20 December 2019. A final report will cover the full period between the 2019 and 2020 summits.
During the review process for this report, we received some comments that have initiated a careful review of the guidelines and analysis produced in this report. This feedback has been very helpful and useful, but we were unable to revise this interim report extensively in the limited time available. However we are carefully reviewing our procedures and analysis for the final version, which will cover the full period between 27 August 2019 and the eve of the 2020 summit scheduled to be hosted by the United States at Camp David on 10–12 June 2020. We always welcome suggestions to improve our work, and we are grateful for the feedback.
To make its assessments, the G7 Research Group relies on publicly available information, documentation and media reports. To ensure the accuracy, comprehensiveness and integrity of these reports, we encourage comments and suggestions. Indeed, this is a living document, and the scores can be recalibrated if new material becomes available. All feedback remains anonymous and is never attributed. Responsibility for this report's contents lies exclusively with the report's authors and the analysts of the G7 Research Group.
This report is produced entirely on a voluntary basis. It receives no direct financial support from any source, by a process insulated from the other major activities of the G7 Research Group, such as the "background books" produced GT Media or the pre-summit conferences sponsored by various institutions.
The work of the G7 Research Group would not be possible without the steadfast dedication of many people around the world. This report is the product of a team of energetic and hard-working analysts led by Meagan Byrd and Ivan Hsieh, co-chairs of summit studies, and their team of compliance directors, lead analysts and analysts. It would also not be possible without the support of Brittaney Warren, director of compliance, and the work of Dr. Ella Kokotsis. We are also indebted to the many people who provide feedback on our drafts, whose comments are always carefully considered in the published report.
John Kirton
Director
G7 Research Group
The University of Toronto G7 Research Group's Interim Compliance Report on the 2019 Biarritz Summit assesses the compliance of the G7 members with 21 priority commitments selected from the total 71 made at their summit in France on 24-26 August (See Table A). This selection reflects the breadth and focus of the summit agenda, including the host's priorities and the built-in issues. The analysis covers actions taken by G7 members since 27 August 2019, the day after the summit, until 20 December 2019. A report covering the full period between the Biarritz Summit and the 2020 G7 summit will be released on the eve of the Camp David Summit scheduled for 10-12 June. Interim scores can vary significantly from the final scores, since they only represent a member's actions for part of the inter-summit period.
The guidelines used to conduct the analysis in this report are being reviewed in light of feedback from stakeholders received during the review process. However, it was not possible to revise the research already conducted for the interim report to incorporate all the feedback. Therefore, the final report, which will be published on the eve of the Camp David Summit, will reflect a careful consideration of this feedback.
Compliance is measured on a three-point scale. A score of +1 indicates full compliance with a commitment, a score of 0 indicates partial compliance, and a score of −1 indicates non-compliance as in a failure to comply or action taken that is directly opposite to the commitment. The interim compliance scores are listed in Table B.
For the period of 27 August 2019 to 20 December 2019, the average compliance score for these 21 commitments was +0.24 (62%). This is a decrease from 2018 interim compliance score of +0.57 (79%), partway between the 2017 Taormina and 2018 Charlevoix Summits, and the 2017 interim compliance score of +0.44 (72%) partway between the 2016 Ise Shima and 2017 Taormina Summits. It is also also a decrease from the final scores of +0.66 (83%) for the 2018 Charlevoix Summit and +0.59 (80%) for the 2017 Taormina +0.60 (80%). Table C contains the interim and final scores by member since 2016.
The European Union ranked first with an average interim compliance score of +0.52 (76%), followed by Germany at +0.48 (74%) and United Kingdom at +0.43 (71%). Italy had the lowest score at −0.29 (36%). Table C contains the scores by member.
The commitment on universal health coverage had a interim compliance of +1.00 (100%). Two commitments had an interim compliance score of +0.88 (94%): one on gender equality and one on the Sustainable Development Goals. Four commitments had interim scores in the negative range, with lowest score of −0.75 (13%) for the score on primary health care. Table D contains the scores by commitment.
These interim results from the Biarritz Summit show a difference of 0.81 between the highest and lowest compliance scores. This compares to a gap of 0.96 between the highest and lowest interim scores and 0.50 between the highest and lowest final scores for the 2018 Charlevoix Summit.
The information contained within this report provides G7 members and other stakeholders with an indication of their compliance with 20 commitments at the midway point between the Charlevoix Summit in June 2018 and the Biarritz Summit in August 2019. As with previous compliance reports, this report has been produced as an invitation for others to provide additional or more complete information on country compliance. Comments are always welcomed and would be considered as part of an analytical reassessment. Please send your feedback to g7@utoronto.ca.
Commitment | |
1 | "Enabling the necessary digital infrastructure in order to reduce the digital gap and inequality, including in isolated countries and regions that are excluded or underserved." (2019-37) |
2 | "We are determined to work collaboratively to reinforce our democracies against illicit and malign behavior and foreign hostile interference by state and non-state actors." (2019-67) |
3 | "We will continue to explore ways to advance our work on AI [artificial intelligence] to understand and share on a regular basis, multidisciplinary research results on artificial intelligence issues and best practices, as well as bringing together international artificial intelligence initiatives." (2019-71) |
4 | "Aside from our domestic commitments, we stand ready to support interested countries through our different expertise and development mechanisms to adopt, implement and monitor laws that remedy this and advance gender equality." (2019-54) |
5 | "We support the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative including through the Women Entrepreneurs-Finance Initiative (We-Fi)." (2019-30) |
6 | "We will continue to support women's entrepreneuship in Africa, including by supporting the removal of legal, social and regulatory barriers that discriminate against women's full and free economic participation and empowerment." (2019-35) |
7 | "[We]…endeavor to work together with developing countries to promote inclusion, equity and access of girls and women to quality education, including access to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)." (2019-60) |
8 | "[We share an objective] to foster peace and stability in the region." (2019-7) |
9 | "We [support the efforts of countries in the region, notably those in the G5, in coming together to address these security and development challenges and] remain committed to working with them to improve and better coordinate efforts to enhance their defence and internal security capabilities, including through support for structureal reforms of their security appatus." (2019-12) |
10 | "As the G7, we will work with the United Nations and INTERPOL in order to provide appropriate support to G5 countries in building more efficient G5 Sahel police and defence capabilities." (2019-16) |
11 | "We support facilitating increased access of G5 countries to all available public and private finance." (2019-18) |
12 | "We are determined to work together to address global challenges, in line with Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda and taking into account the African Union Agenda 2063." (2019-29) |
13 | "We reiterate our willingness to continue to develop entrepreneuship and private sector youth employment in Africa through multilateral iniatives, such as the G20 Compact with Africa and other bilateral initatives supported by individual G7 members." (2019-28) |
14 | "[Therefore, the G7 wishes to overhaul the WTO [World Trade Organization] to improve effectiveness with regard to eliminate unfair trade practices." (2019-4) |
15 | "The G7 commits to reaching in 2020 an agreement to simplify regulatory barriers and modernize international taxation within the framework of the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]." (2019-5) |
16 | "We commit to pursuing our efforts to strengthen quality primary health care in Sahel countries, with a specific focus on gender equality and women's empowerment." (2019-23) |
17 | "We recall our commitment to moving towards achieving universal health coverage according to national contexts and priorities, building resilient and sustainable health systems, in order to be able to reach the most affected communities." (2019-25) |
18 | "We will continue to support efforts to promptly respond to ongoing cases of victims' specific medical, psychological and social needs while making those responsible accountable." (2019-56) |
19 | "Leaders endorsed the G7 Metz Charter on Biodiversity and committed to take swift action on biodiversity, either individually or jointly, in the run up to COP15 [15th Conference of the Parties] of the Convention on Biological Diversity." (2019-61) |
20 | "We support enhancing public procurement transparency and standards, in order to improve the business and investment climate, transparency, accountability and debt sustainability through the constructive involvement of governments, businesses and civil society organization, thus contributing to the fight against corruption." (2019-33) |
21 | "[We will encourage partner countries' governments and other donors to join a collective effort in strengthening education systems, thus increasing our coordination and our political and financial support to education, including basic education." (2019-22) |
* For the full list of commitments, please contact the G7 Research Group at g7@utoronto.ca.
Canada | France | Germany | Italy | Japan | United Kingdom | United States | European Union | Average | |||
1 | Digital economy: Digital infrastructure | −1 | −1 | +1 | −1 | +1 | −1 | −1 | 0 | −0.38 | 31% |
2 | Digital economy: Digital democracy | 0 | −1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | +1 | 0 | +0.13 | 56% |
3 | Digital economy: Artificial inteligence | +1 | +1 | +1 | −1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +0.75 | 88% |
4 | Gender: Gender equality | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | 0 | +1 | +0.88 | 94% |
5 | Gender: Affirmative finance action for women in Africa | 0 | −1 | 0 | −1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −0.25 | 38% |
6 | Gender: Women's entrepreneurship in Africa | 0 | +1 | +1 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0.38 | 69% |
7 | Gender: STEM education | 0 | +1 | +1 | −1 | −1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +0.38 | 69% |
8 | Regional security: Iran | 0 | +1 | +1 | +1 | 0 | +1 | +1 | 0 | +0.63 | 81% |
9 | Regional security: G5 Sahel security and development | +1 | +1 | 0 | −1 | +1 | +1 | −1 | +1 | +0.38 | 69% |
10 | Regional security: G5 Sahel police | −1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +0.75 | 88% |
11 | Development: G5 Sahel | 0 | +1 | −1 | −1 | +1 | +1 | 0 | 0 | +0.13 | 56% |
12 | Development: Sustainable Development Goals | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | 0 | +1 | +0.88 | 94% |
13 | Development: Entrepreneurship in Africa | 0 | 0 | +1 | −1 | +1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | +0.25 | 63% |
14 | Trade: World Trade Organization reform | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | +1 | +1 | −1 | +1 | +0.13 | 56% |
15 | Trade: Tax policy | 0 | 0 | +1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −0.50 | 25% |
16 | Health: Primary health care | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | 0 | −1 | 0 | −0.75 | 13% |
17 | Health: Universal health coverage | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1.00 | 100% |
18 | Health: Mental health | −1 | 0 | 0 | −1 | −1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | −0.25 | 38% |
19 | Environment: Biodiversity | +1 | +1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | +1 | 0 | +1 | +0.63 | 81% |
20 | Crime and corruption: Procurement | −1 | 0 | +1 | 0 | −1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −0.13 | 44% |
21 | Education: G5 Sahel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | +0.13 | 56% |
2019 interim compliance average | +0.05 | +0.33 | +0.48 | −0.29 | +0.38 | +0.43 | +0.05 | +0.52 | +0.24 | 62% | |
52% | 67% | 74% | 36% | 69% | 71% | 52% | 76% |
N/A = Not applicable.
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |||||||||||
interim | final | interim | final | interim | final | interim | ||||||||
European Union | +0.52 | 76% | +0.90 | 95% | +1.00 | 100% | +0.95 | 98% | +0.94 | 97% | +0.67 | 83% | +0.91 | 95% |
Germany | +0.48 | 74% | +0.50 | 75% | +0.64 | 82% | +0.63 | 82% | +0.44 | 72% | +0.67 | 83% | +0.55 | 77% |
United Kingdom | +0.43 | 71% | +0.85 | 93% | +0.70 | 85% | +0.74 | 87% | +0.50 | 75% | +0.42 | 71% | +0.82 | 91% |
Japan | +0.38 | 69% | +0.68 | 84% | +0.51 | 76% | +0.47 | 74% | +0.25 | 63% | +0.28 | 64% | +0.18 | 59% |
France | +0.33 | 67% | +0.65 | 83% | +0.64 | 82% | +0.68 | 84% | +0.50 | 75% | +0.26 | 63% | +0.27 | 64% |
United States | +0.05 | 52% | +0.47 | 74% | +0.04 | 52% | +0.17 | 59% | +0.13 | 57% | +0.63 | 82% | +0.55 | 78% |
Canada | +0.05 | 52% | +0.80 | 90% | +0.64 | 82% | +0.68 | 84% | +0.44 | 72% | +0.58 | 79% | +0.55 | 77% |
Italy | −0.29 | 36% | +0.40 | 70% | +0.39 | 70% | +0.37 | 69% | +0.31 | 66% | +0.21 | 61% | +0.18 | 59% |
Average | +0.43 | 71% | +0.66 | 83% | +0.57 | 79% | +0.59 | 80% | +0.44 | 72% | +0.47 | 74% | +0.51 | 76% |
Spread | 0.81 | 0.50 | 0.96 | 0.78 | 0.81 | 0.46 | 0.73 |
1 | Health: Universal health coverage | +1.00 | 100% |
2 | Development: Sustainable Development Goals | +0.88 | 94% |
Gender: Gender equality | +0.88 | 94% | |
4 | Digital economy: Artificial inteligence | +0.75 | 88% |
Regional security: G5 Sahel police | +0.75 | 88% | |
6 | Regional security: Iran | +0.63 | 81% |
7 | Gender: STEM education | +0.38 | 69% |
Gender: Women's entrepreneurship in Africa | +0.38 | 69% | |
Regional security: G5 Sahel security and development | +0.38 | 69% | |
10 | Development: Entrepreneurship in Africa | +0.25 | 63% |
11 | Development: G5 Sahel | +0.13 | 56% |
Digital economy: Digital democracy | +0.13 | 56% | |
Education: G5 Sahel | +0.13 | 56% | |
Trade: World Trade Organization reform | +0.13 | 56% | |
15 | Crime and corruption: Procurement | −0.13 | 44% |
Environment: Biodiversity | −0.13 | 44% | |
17 | Gender: Affirmative finance action for women in Africa | −0.25 | 38% |
Health: Mental health | −0.25 | 38% | |
19 | Digital economy: Digital infrastructure | −0.38 | 31% |
20 | Trade: Tax policy | −0.50 | 25% |
21 | Health: Primary health care | −0.75 | 13% |
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