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G7 Summit Governance of Cities, 1975–2024
John Kirton, G7 Research Group
May 7, 2024
It is increasingly recognized that cities are relevant, important and indeed essential to many of the key challenges the global community confronts. Most of the world's 8 billion people now live in cities, which are the concentrated hubs of damage and vulnerability from climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, and of contributions to economic growth and innovation, trade and tourism. They are also the targets of deadly attacks, such as by Russia in Ukraine.
Thus far, the existing literature on the relevance and role of cities in G7 governance argues "the G7, despite being somewhat contentious, remains a highly relevant forum both in terms of the negative contribution of its members to global sustainability crises (such as climate change) and their collective economic capability to address the crises. In the past, references to the role of cities were largely absent from G7 official documents; this changed during Germany's G7 presidency in 2022" (Gronen and Sudermann 2023).
However, the G7 summit's governance of cities began long before Germany's 2022 Elmau Summit, and was more robust than its commitments on cities, the breadth of subjects they covered and members' compliance with them, even if the four commitments on cities made at Elmau in 2022 were the most ever made by any G7 summit. Moreover, that was the only summit that Germany hosted that made such commitments, while Japan as host had as many commitments, coming from more of the summits it hosted. Italian-hosted summits have made none, making it a challenge for the Apulia Summit on June 13–15, 2024, to produce some.
The leaders of the G7 major democracies, meeting at their annual summits since 1975, have made 16 commitments on cities since 1986 (see Appendix A). They did so in five intervals: two from 1996 to 1997, five from 2002 to 2005, one in 2012, two in 2016 and six from 2022 to 2023. They peaked at four at Elmau in 2022.
By subject, the commitments on cities were led by those on the environment (water, sewage and sanitation) with two and also two each on climate change, democracy, food and agriculture, and sustainable development, and one each on health, digitalization, Ukraine's reconstruction and international exchange. In 2022, one commitment was on "unlocking the full potential of cities to promote social, cultural, technological, climate-neutral, economic, and democratic innovation."
By summit host, Japan and Germany led with four each, followed by the United States and France with three each, and the United Kingdom and Canada with one each; Italy had none.
G7 member governments have complied with their leaders' summit commitments on cities at an average of 75%, based on the four commitments assessed for compliance by the G7 Research Group. This is just below the 77% average on the 708 commitments assessed on all subjects.
By year, in 2005 the one commitment on cities had compliance of 78%. For 2021, the one commitment dropped to 50%. For 2016, the two commitments on cities averaged 84%.
By subject, the two commitments on cities in the context of food and agriculture (made in 2005 and 2016) averaged compliance of 80%. The one on health, on dementia (made in 2016), had compliance of 86%. The one on good governance (made in 2012) had only 50%.
By member, compliance with the four assessed commitments on cities was led by Germany, the UK and US, each with 100%. Then came Japan and the European Union each with 88%, Italy and Canada each with 67% and France with 50%.
The G7's many ministerial meetings have not made many commitments on cities, even in 2024 thus far. G7 health ministers, meeting on February 28, 2024, made no references to cities in any of the eight commitments they made. Nor were there any among the 42 commitments made by the G7 industry, technology and digital ministerial meeting on March 13–15. None appeared among the 155 commitments made by the foreign ministers in Capri on April 17–19.
The one exception came from the climate, energy and environment ministers meeting in Turin on April 28–30. Its communiqué included a lengthy section on "Localizing the SDGs in cities and regions to accelerate progress," which read as follows:
Cities play a crucial role as drivers of global transformation to net-zero, climate resilient and nature positive development, better quality of life, resilience to extreme weather and slow onset events, halting and reversing biodiversity loss and combating pollution, as emphasized in the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report, the recent OECD report titled "A Territorial Approach to Climate Action and Resilience", the IRP's report entitled "The Weight of Cities". Global challenges can stimulate local solutions, while local solutions can be scaled up to drive and orient global strategies, in a circular, just and inclusive way. Strengthening the capacity of local, municipal and other forms of government to act is an important component of scaling-up global efforts to address the triple crisis and ultimately benefits broader sustainable transformation.
In this context, we recognize the special role of cities and territories in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda and recall the strong acknowledgement, by G7 and G20 and throughout the United Nations system, to promote effective approaches to SDGs localization which will accelerate progress across the multiple goals at once, by catalysing support for actions that involve all levels, including subnational, regional and territorial governments and actors, promoting national urban development policies, encouraging peer learning, supporting capacity building, promoting city to city cooperation.
In this context, we commit to:
in collaboration with G7 Urban Development Ministers, explore priority actions in the built environment to reduce the impact of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, including nature-based solutions and green and blue infrastructure measures whilst striving to eradicate poverty and boosting social and economic outcomes;
discuss with G7 Development Cooperation Ministers and G7 Urban Development Ministers the implementation of relevant actions in countries most in need, including through a Partnership Platform on Localizing the SDGs that Italian Presidency plans to launch in the second half of 2024 in cooperation with UN-Habitat and in line with the UN High Impact Initiative on SDGs Localization, the UN Local 2030 Coalition and the G20 Platform on Local and Intermediary Cities.
Although these passages appropriately focused on cities' role in climate change, biodiversity loss and the natural environment, they did so more broadly in the context of all the 17 SDGs, and specifically noted poverty, social and economic outcomes.
However, this passage contained only two commitments, both of which were weak, promising only to explore and to discuss.
Hope thus lies for more and bolder commitments across a broader range when G7 ministers of urban development hold their long-scheduled meeting in Genoa on July 24–26, five weeks after the Apulia Summit ends.
Gronen, Maria Elisabeth and Yannick Sudermann (2023). "Towards a Seat at the Table: How an Initiative of Cities Got Their Voices Heard During Germany's 2022 G7 Presidency," IDOS Discussion Paper No. 4/2023. German Institute of Development and Sustainability. https://www.idos-research.de/discussion-paper/article/towards-a-seat-at-the-table-how-an-initiative-of-cities-got-their-voices-heard-during-germanys-2022-g7-presidency.
Search terms: cities, urban, municipal, central business district, mayor, metro, metropolitan
Exclusions: the names of specific cities where meetings were held, such as Durban, or whose names were attached to G7 products, such as the Hiroshima AI Process; local, housing;
1986 Tokyo 0 (of 39)
1987 Venice 0 (of 53)
1988 Toronto 0 (of 27)
1989 Paris 0 (of 61)
1990 Houston 0 (of 78)
1991 London 0 (of 53)
1992 Munich 0 (of 41)
1993 Tokyo 0 (of 29)
1994 Naples 0 (of 53)
1995 Halifax 0 (of 78)
1996 Lyon 1 (of 128)
1996-85. In view of the threats such as global warming, desertification, deforestation, depleting resources and threatened species, and unsustainable urban development, we place top priority on integrating environmental protection more completely into all of our policies. (environment)
1997 Denver 1 (of 145)
1997-145. All authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina must work to accelerate the development of democratic institutions, including accelerating efforts to establish independent news media. We shall contribute the necessary support for the conduct of municipal elections. (democracy)
1998 Birmingham 0 (of 73)
1999 Cologne 0 (of 46)
2000 Okinawa 0 (of 105)
2001 Genoa 0 (of 58)
2022 Kananaskis 1 (of 187)
2002-144. Mobilizing technical assistance to facilitate and accelerate the preparation of potable water and sanitation projects in both rural and urban areas, and to generate greater efficiency in these sectors; and, (environment)
2003 Evian 2 (of 206)
2003-106. Helping build, among other things, local water management systems in rural areas, and water and sewage facilities in urban areas, through efficient use of public resources and promotions of PPP's where appropriate. (infrastructure)
2003-104. Providing technical assistance for the development of efficient local financial markets and building municipal government capacity to design and implement financially viable projects. (development)
2004 Sea Island 1 (of 253)
2004-49. To help reestablish the ties that link Iraq to the world, we will explore ways of reaching out directly to the Iraqi people – to individuals, schools, and cities – as they emerge from decades of dictatorship and deprivation to launch the political, social, and economic rebirth of their nation. (democracy)
2005 Gleneagles 1 (of 212)
2005-90. Support a comprehensive set of actions to raise agricultural productivity, strengthen urban-rural linkages and empower the poor, based on national initiatives and in cooperation with the AU/NEPAD Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and other African initiatives. (food and agriculture)
2006 St Petersburg 0 (of 317)
2007 Heiligendamm 0 (of 329)
2008 Toyako-Hokkaido 0 (of 298)
2009 L'Aquila 0 (of 252)
2010 Muskoka 0 (of 73)
2011 Deauville (0 of 193)
2012 Camp David 1 (of 141)
2012-102. [In response to transition countries' request for support with reforms that promote transparency, accountability, and good governance, G-8 members will take the following actions:] Launch a Partnership exchange program to pair legislators, judges, regional and municipal leaders and labor unions with G-8 counterparts to build institutional capacity, promote knowledge sharing, and strengthen accountability and good-governance practices in transition countries. (international cooperation)
2013 Lough Erne 0 (of 214)
2014 Brussels 0 (of 141)
2015 Elmau 0 (of 376)
2016 Ise-Shima 2 (of 342)
2016-188. Building on the G7 Broad Food Security and Nutrition Development Approach, we endorse the G7 Vision for Action on Food Security and Nutrition, which outlines collective actions in the priority areas of: (i) empowering women; (ii) improving nutrition through a people-centered approach that recognizes the diverse food security challenges people face across the rural to urban spectrum; and (iii) ensuring sustainability and resilience within agriculture and food systems. (food and agriculture)
2016-233. Pursue multi-sectoral approach to active ageing to reach the highest attainable level of well-being, from health care and long-term care to health promotion, welfare, employment, pension, housing, and urban/transportation planning, with due consideration to gender specific aspects, through such movements as promotion of age-friendly communities and support for communities to become dementia-friendly, including Age and Dementia-friendly Communities, and promoting Dementia Supporters/Friends. (health)
2017 Taormina 0 (of 180)
2018 Charlevoix 0 (of 315)
2019 Biarritz 0 (of 71)
2020 Virtual 0 (of 25)
2021 Cornwall 0 (of 429)
2022 Elmau 4 (of 545)
2022-214. We commit to foster exchange among and with cities. (international cooperation)
2022-215. We task our relevant Ministers to develop a joint understanding of good urban development policy to be adopted at the first ever G7 Ministerial Meeting for Sustainable Urban Development (international cooperation)
2022-216. [We task our relevant Ministers to decide on]…joint initiatives for unlocking the full potential of cities to promote social, cultural, technological, climate-neutral, economic, and democratic innovation for the common good. (international cooperation)
2022-426. We recognise [the devastating destruction of infrastructure, including basic social and public infrastructure, cities, industry, and agricultural facilities in Ukraine, and] the urgent need for immediate reconstruction of critical infrastructure (infrastructure)
2023 Hiroshima 2 (of 653)
2023-88 We will continue our cooperation on sustainable urban development (development)
2023-89 [We] task our relevant Ministers to consider the development of principles on carbon neutral, resilient and inclusive cities and on the digitalization in cities, and to accelerate the use of data and technologies for cities. (development)
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