G8 Compliance 1996-2011

G8 Compliance, 1996-2011

Caroline Bracht, G8 Research Group
June 4, 2013

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The compliance reports produced by the G8 Research Group and researchers at the University of Toronto document the progress made by each G8 member in meeting a selected priority set of commitments issued at each summit. These reports, offer the general public, policy makers, academics, civil society, the media and interested citizens around the world information on the G8's actions in an effort to make the work of the G8 more transparent and accessible, and to provide scientific data to enable the meaningful analysis of this unique and informal institution.

The G8 Research Group has monitored 313 of a total of 2,875 commitments made by the G8 leaders, between 1996 and 2011, with an overall average of +0.51. Commitments are assessed on a three-point scale, on which +1 indicates full compliance, 0 indicates a work in progress and -1 means no compliance or inaction. On the common percentage scale of 0 to 100% the +0.51 average translates to 75.5%.

The commitments monitored fall into 24 issue areas. Of these issue areas, 12 were above the overall average of +0.51 and 12 were below. If those with only one compliance report are excluded, the issue area with the highest performance is energy, with an average of +0.78. This is followed by commitments in the area of macroeconomics at +0.70. Commitments in the areas of information and communication technologies, terrorism, good governance and social policy all fall in the range of +0.66 to +0.64. Commitments on the environment, climate change and regional security are slightly lower — between +0.57 and +0.54 — but remain above the overall average.

The lowest and only negative score is in the area of microeconomics at -0.24. The second lowest score is in the area of East-West relations at 0.00, followed by United Nations reform at +0.14 and trade at +0.36. Commitments on education and health have an average score of +0.41 and +0.43 respectively. On crime the average score is +0.45 and on development it is +0.46. Several commitments fall just below average: food and agriculture at +0.49, nuclear safety at +0.50 and conflict prevention at +0.51.

Measured by country, four countries and the European Union have averages above the overall average. Canada has the highest implementation score at +0.68, followed closely by the United Kingdom at +0.67. The United States and the EU have averages of +0.62 and +0.60 respectively. Germany's average is +0.58. The countries France at +0.49, Japan at +0.45, Italy at +0.27 and Russia at +0.26 all fall below average.

Almost all G8 members have performed poorly on the microeconomic commitments and many have a negative score. Italy also performed poorly on health. Russia scored negatively in the areas of trade, conflict prevention, social policy and food and agriculture. The European Union and France each have one negative compliance score in the areas of social policy and trade, respectively.

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G8 Compliance Scores by Issue, 1996-2011 by Issue

Issue Area	Total reports	Canada	Japan	France	Germany	Italy	Russia	United Kingdom	United States	European Union	Total
Non-proliferation	25	0.8	0.6	0.64	0.88	0.38	0.3	0.84	0.52	0.68	0.63
Nuclear safety	2	0.5	0	1	1	0	1	0.5	0	1	0.5
East-West relations	2	0	0.5	0	0	0		0	0		0
Regional security	16	0.63	0.63	0.5	0.44	0.64	0.29	0.56	0.81	0.62	0.57
Macroeconomics	6	0.83	0.67	0.67	0.83	0.67	0.67	0.5	0.83	0.5	0.7
Trade	24	0.63	0.5	-0.08	0.52	0.13	-0.35	0.71	0.42	0.63	0.36
Microeconomics	3	0.33	-1	-0.33	0.33	-1	-1	0.33	-0.33	-1	-0.24
Development	36	0.58	0.36	0.47	0.56	0.2	0.24	0.69	0.56	0.47	0.46
Finance	6	0.5	0.17	0	0.5	0	0.33	0.67	0.33	1	0.36
Terrorism	16	0.75	0.38	0.44	0.6	0.79	0.79	0.56	0.88	0.64	0.64
UN Reform	3	1	0	0	1	0		-1	0		0.14
Human rights	1	1	0	1	1			1	1		0.83
Environment	10	0.7	0.6	0.5	0.6	0.22	0.63	0.7	0.5	0.8	0.57
ICT	14	0.79	0.71	0.5	0.64	0.62	0.15	0.79	0.92	1	0.66
Crime	31	0.55	0.32	0.48	0.35	0.29	0.39	0.52	0.76	0.35	0.45
Conflict prevention	8	0.88	0	0.88	0.75	0	-0.29	0.63	0.88	0.8	0.51
Social policy	6	0.8	1	0.8	0.5	0.5	-0.25	1	1	-1	0.64
Climate change	34	0.58	0.58	0.61	0.67	0.21	0.32	0.73	0.47	0.72	0.54
Food and agriculture	9	0.67	0.78	0.56	0.56	0.33	-0.25	0.56	0.56	0.57	0.49
Health	30	0.87	0.3	0.43	0.47	-0.07	0.08	0.6	0.73	0.39	0.43
Energy	11	0.82	0.73	0.73	0.73	0.45	0.64	1	1	0.9	0.78
Education	9	0.56	0.33	0.89	0.22	0	0.14	0.89	0.22	0.33	0.41
Good governance	10	0.7	0.3	0.7	0.6	0.3	0.8	0.9	0.7	0.75	0.64
HP	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Overall average	N=313	0.68	0.45	0.49	0.58	0.27	0.26	0.67	0.62	0.6	0.51

Notes: ICT = information and communications technology. HP = Heiligendamm Process. UN = United Nations.

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