The outcome of the Group of 20 leaders' summit in Osaka showed there are risks to holding multiple major gatherings over a relatively short time span, particularly when several meaty topics are on the docket, and then trying to forge unanimous agreement over just two days among countries that at times have vastly differing views on each issue.
Leaders reached a consensus on topics ranging from the global economy to plastic waste. But climate change, where French opposition to efforts by the U.S. to water down language committing members to the 2015 Paris climate agreement, nearly derailed the conference on the first day.
In the end, though, John Kirton, founder and director of the G20 Research Group at the University of Toronto, called the Osaka summit a broad, sustainable success.