The G20 Sherpa Track and Finance Track explained

Long before G20 leaders meet at a summit, officials have spent the year preparing the ground in dozens of meetings. That work runs along two parallel tracks, the Sherpa Track and the Finance Track, each with its own working groups. If you are preparing for a Model G20, knowing which track your committee belongs to tells you who you are playing, what your committee can decide and how its work reaches the leaders. This guide explains both tracks, what their working groups do, and how the structure has changed from year to year.

Two tracks, one summit

India's 2023 presidency described the set-up simply: "The G20 consists of two parallel tracks: the Finance Track and the Sherpa Track." Within them, "there are thematically oriented working groups in which representatives from the relevant ministries of the members as well as from invited/guest countries and various international organisations participate." The G20 has no permanent secretariat, so the presidency of the year organises the meetings. South Africa's 2025 presidency planned "around 130 meetings of the working groups and task forces," and both the Brazilian and South African presidencies described the summit as "the culmination of more than a hundred G20 meetings over the course of a year."

The Sherpa Track

The Sherpa Track is led by sherpas. South Africa's presidency explains the name: the term "has its roots in mountain climbing, and it refers to an assistant who guides climbers to the summit of a mountain." G20 sherpas are senior officials who act as their leaders' personal representatives. India's site says they "oversee negotiations over the course of the year, discussing agenda items for the Summit and coordinating the substantive work of the G20."

Two examples show who they are. India's sherpa in 2023, Amitabh Kant, chaired the third sherpa meeting, in Hampi. South Africa's sherpa in 2025 was the Director-General of its Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Zane Dangor, supported by two sous-sherpas. Sous-sherpas help the sherpa; the presidency sources give no fuller definition.

The Sherpa Track covers most of the G20's agenda beyond finance. Under India in 2023 it had 13 working groups:

• Agriculture; Anti-corruption; Culture; Development; Digital Economy; Disaster Risk Reduction; Education.
• Employment; Energy Transitions; Environment and Climate Sustainability; Health; Tourism; Trade and Investment.

India also ran four initiatives alongside them, including the Space Economy Leaders Meeting and a new Chief Scientific Advisors Roundtable. India's site describes the working groups as bodies of "experts and officials from relevant ministries" who "lead in-depth analysis and discussions" in their areas.

The Finance Track

The Finance Track is led by finance ministers and central bank governors. India's presidency said it "discusses global macroeconomic issues through its meetings of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, their Deputies and various working group meetings." Its topics include the global economic outlook, the international financial architecture, international taxation, infrastructure finance, sustainable finance and financial inclusion.

In 2023 it had five working groups: the Framework Working Group, International Financial Architecture, the Infrastructure Working Group, the Sustainable Finance Working Group and the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion. Each was co-chaired by two members; the Sustainable Finance Working Group, for example, was co-chaired by the United States and China. Some subjects had no working group at all. India noted that international taxation "is discussed directly at the level of the G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies," and that the Financial Stability Board provides papers for discussions on the financial sector.

The finance deputies, senior officials below the ministers, appear to do for the ministers' meetings what sherpas do for the summit. The 2026 US calendar, for example, listed a meeting of finance and central bank deputies in Asheville two days before the finance ministers met there.

The groups change every year

The structure is not fixed. Each presidency chooses its working groups, task forces and initiatives:

• India 2023: 13 Sherpa Track working groups, including a new one on Disaster Risk Reduction, plus four initiatives.
• Brazil 2024: 15 Sherpa Track working groups, adding Research and Innovation and Women's Empowerment, plus two task forces, one on global mobilisation against climate change and one on a global alliance against hunger and poverty. Its Finance Track listed seven items, including international taxation and financial sector issues.
• South Africa 2025: 15 Sherpa Track working groups and three task forces, on inclusive growth and employment, food security, and artificial intelligence and data governance.
• United States 2026: a much slimmer structure. The US presidency says it "will use four working groups to achieve progress on our three priority themes": Trade, Growth and Deregulation, Innovation, and Energy Abundance.

So if your Model G20 background guide names a working group, check which year's structure it is copying. The energy group, for example, was the Energy Transitions Working Group under India, Brazil and South Africa, and is the Energy Abundance Working Group under the US.

How the work reaches the leaders

India's government described the pipeline in 2022. Working groups, initiatives and engagement groups "develop their Issue Notes and Outcome Documents in parallel," and these discussions "feed consensus-based recommendations to the Sherpa Meetings." The outcome of the sherpa meetings then "forms the basis of the Leaders' Declaration." Ministers' meetings on each track produce their own texts along the way, which may be agreed communiqués or chair's summaries when members do not all agree. Our explainer on how a G20 leaders' declaration is agreed follows that last step in detail.

What this means for your Model G20

• Know your track. A finance committee plays ministers and central bankers, so think in terms of growth, debt, financial stability and tax. A sherpa or working-group committee covers a sector such as health, energy or education.
• Stay within your remit. A working group makes recommendations; the leaders decide. Propose what your group could realistically recommend.
• Use the right documents. Your country's statements in the relevant working group or ministers' meeting are better evidence than general speeches.
• Expect co-chairs and guests. Real working groups include guest countries and international organisations, and your conference may simulate them too.

What to do next

For the basics of the forum, read what the G20 does and how a summit reaches agreement. For this year's structure, see the 2026 G20 presidency explained, and to prepare your country's position, use our guide on how to write a Model G20 position paper.

Model G20 is One Young India's simulation of the G20 summit for students, held as a three-day residential summit at FLAME University.