Guided by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, G7 leaders agreed on concrete steps with regard to climate protection, the empowerment of women and health.

 

Priorities

• Strong support for an ambitious international climate agreement at the COP21 conference (Paris, December 2015)
• Boost women’s entrepreneurship as a key driver of innovation, growth and jobs
• Strengthen health systems through bilateral programmes and multilateral structures
• Encourage and support Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) by promoting international standards like the OECD MNE Guidelines to ensure labour rights, decent working conditions and environmental protection in global supply chains

 

Main achievements and OECD contributions

Climate Change: G7 leaders pledged to develop long-term low-carbon strategies and to phase out greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the century. They made strong commitment for a reduction of GHG emissions between 40 and 70% by 2050 on the basis of 2010. They asked the OECD for a report on resource efficiency and for continued progress in the OECD discussions on how export credits can contribute to address climate change. They reached a set of decisions to enhance climate finance to help the most vulnerable countries in Africa and other regions build resilience against the effects of climate change and adopt cleaner sources of energy.

 

Women’s Entrepreneurship: The G7 agreed on common principles to strengthen women’s entrepreneurship in G7 countries and on a global scale. The OECD strongly supported the integration of gender equality into the G7 agenda; G7 leaders asked the OECD to monitor progress on promoting women’s entrepreneurship.

 

Health: On Ebola, the G7 committed to preventing future outbreaks from becoming epidemics by assisting countries to implement the WHO’s International Health Regulations. With a view to Antimicrobial Resistances, leaders committed to taking into account Joint Efforts to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance.

 

Tax: In order to achieve a modern and fair international tax system, the G7 leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to finalize recommendations for the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan by the end of the year, encouraging the G20 and the OECD to establish a targeted monitoring process to that end.

 

Responsible Supply Chains: For a fairer globalisation process, the G7 are committed to promote Responsible Supply Chains and G7 leaders committed to strengthening mechanisms for providing access to remedies including the National Contact Points (NCPs) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The G7 will encourage the OECD to promote peer reviews and peer learning on the functioning and performance of the NCPs. Leaders welcomed the recent agreement on the Deauville Partnership Compact on Economic Governance, adopted at a conference jointly organized by the OECD and the German Foreign Office at the OECD headquarters in Paris, and the Action Plan on Financial Inclusion, to which the OECD made major contributions. 

 

Further reading

• Leaders' Declaration
• Annex to the Leaders'Declaration
• German G7 Presidency