Policy Brief

Crafting Bespoke National Energy Transition Plans to Achieve Inclusive and Low-Carbon Development

G20 Needs a Big Data Drive

Shuva Raha
May 2024 | International Cooperation

Overview

To move from good intentions to action at scale, the G20 must prioritise the collection and application of timely, relevant, and credible big data to inform national energy transition plans. This drive for data-informed decision-making is essential to fulfil the T20 Brasil 2024 Communiqué, which urges the G20 to provide capacity building, technology transfer, and adequate funding for transitions that leverage climate adaptation and the bioeconomy. By utilising affordable and modern digital public infrastructure, the G20 can better align national climate actions with the Sustainable Development Goals while ensuring data justice and information integrity.

A one-size-fits-all approach is insufficient for global challenges, as G20 members differ vastly in population size, economic development, and per capita income. High-quality data allows countries to design transition pathways customised to their unique circumstances, such as enhancing data granularity through high-resolution climate risk mapping to focus investments on resilient infrastructure. Furthermore, legitimising indigenous knowledge through structured data collection and providing credible data from emerging markets and developing economies are critical steps to foster locally relevant solutions and reduce potential bias in credit ratings, which currently hinders finance flows.

Despite these needs, significant gaps remain, as many Long-Term Strategies lack specific details on capacity needs, quantified finance requirements, or timelines for phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. However, the current G20 troika of Indonesia, India, and Brasil, followed by South Africa in 2025, offers a golden opportunity to change the status quo through proactive South-South cooperation. By fostering institutional collaboration and embracing AI-based tools to process big data efficiently, the G20 can unlock the new ideas required to accelerate inclusive, low-carbon development worldwide.

Key Highlights

The commentary emphasizes that moving from intentions to clean energy action requires a rigorous "big data drive" to collect timely, relevant, and credible indicators. This shared framework is necessary to unpack unique country circumstances, design customized implementation plans, and lower investment risks.
T20 Brasil’s major policy recommendations unite multiple agendas, linking Task Force 1 on poverty and hunger alleviation, Task Force 2 on just energy transitions, and Task Force 5 on inclusive digital transformation. This convergence is designed to align national climate actions with broader Sustainable Development Goals.
An analysis of G20 members' Long-Term Strategies reveals critical planning and information bottlenecks, noting that most submissions lack specific capacity-building details, explicit timelines for phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, or clear quantitative plans to mobilize required climate finance.
Technology transfer remains hindered by major imbalances in global research and development. G20 members own approximately 91 percent of international green tech patents, but a staggering 85 percent of this total is heavily concentrated within just five economies: China, Japan, the United States, South Korea, and Germany.
The report advocates for high-resolution climate risk mapping to strengthen infrastructure resilience and protect communities. It cites the example of India’s Climate Risk Atlas, which successfully tracks floods, cyclones, and droughts down to a 25 square-kilometer sub-district level using 50 years of data.
The consecutive G20 presidencies of Indonesia, India, Brasil, and South Africa from 2022 to 2025 offer a golden opportunity to challenge the standard approach to global governance. Coupled with the permanent inclusion of the African Union, this sequence provides a unique avenue to advance sustainable development via South-South cooperation.

Moreover, legitimising indigenous knowledge capital through structured data collection, documentation, and registration of indigenous peoples' and traditional communities' knowledge, practices, and innovations, much of which has been inherited over centuries and does not have modern IP rights, will accelerate national transition plans through locally relevant and culturally accepted solutions.