The Economics of the Common Good (ECOM): Implications for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development (Economics for Low- and Middle-Income Countries)
Shortly after the SDGs were settled, only around 60% of the indicators had an agreed methodology and standards. Four years took to achieve this for the remaining indicators. A lack of funding and other constraints are often the reasons why data are not being produced by all countries.
A new economics of the common good is needed, too — for setting shared goals and working out how to achieve them17. This involves cross-cultural respect and cooperation, the cultivation of civic virtues and defending the dignity of the socially, politically and economically marginalized — with not just words but also policies and collaborations involving government, business, workers and civil society. Diverse voices and sources of knowledge must be brought to the table to discuss what it means to co-create a just and sustainable economy.
The operating space for humans on Earth must be safe in order for the SDG agenda to work. Human well-being depends on a stable environment. Yet the world is transgressing six of nine planetary limits or ‘boundaries’ that regulate its stability and functioning9 — including in areas such as climate change, biodiversity and more. Surpassing these limits puts Earth’s entire life-support system at risk, and with it the chance to eradicate poverty and hunger and achieve good lives for all.
Reform of the global financial architecture is crucial, as advocated by the UN secretary-general António Guterres and various economic blocs and institutions12. Low-interest financing is needed for LMICs to pursue sustainable development. Increasing the scope for financing is whatlateral development banks are supposed to do. The financial architectures should support projects across borders. Some regional development banks are taking steps to finance transboundary infrastructure, such as green power grids covering several countries.
Regarding capabilities, UN member states should adopt a balanced and multilateral knowledge-based approach to the SDGs framework. Publicly funded research systems should be deployed, nationally and globally, encompassing social and technological innovation and the evaluation of interventions.
Low- and middle-income countries are not able to achieve the 4 goals of the UN. Many nations are in debt distress after the pandemic and face a tight schedule of repayments, which is setting back development. Weak domestic institutions and corruption5 further hamper the flow of equity and debt finance to LMICs.
Cutting-edge technologies must be included. It could affect all of theSDGs, both positive and negative. Global agreements on regulation are required to stop the proliferation of artificial intelligence-driven weapons.
By the year 2030. Adopt social protection measures to address the most vulnerable in society (older people; mothers and children; people with disabilities; those who are unemployed).
By 2040: Strong and lasting resilience of the poor to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters.
By 2040, sustainable-agriculture programmes should be used to raise food production and reduce food loss and waste.
The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals: The Role of Artificial Intelligence and Digitalization in Policy Development and Training Curriculums for Sustainable Development, Innovation and Cooperation
By 2050: Continuous work to ensure that the SDG remains on track, and to integrate topics such as the management of artificial intelligence and digitalization in training curricula.
By 2040: Cut global greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 58% compared with 2019. Protect and restore nature to build carbon sinks and storage.
By 2050: Restore nature resilience in all major terrestrial and marine biomes for human health and planetary stability (buffering capacity to withstand shocks and stress).
Governments must extend their SDG policy pathways to mid-century and set mid-term milestones10. These plans should align national priorities with global objectives, ensuring that every country contributes to collective progress towards sustainable development.
All 2050 targets must be clear and measurable, using indicators that are widely accepted and easy to implement. For example, an effective climate-action goal (SDG 13) should be based on net-zero emissions of anthropogenic greenhouse gases by mid-century, as well as actionable climate-resilience goals.
There are two ways to include AI — either by incorporating it into existing goals (such as SDG 9, on industry and innovation) or by adding a separate one. The 2020 Montreal Statement on Sustainability in the Digital Age lays the foundations for the use of artificial intelligence in order to ensure the shared prosperity of all.
Global Governance for Scaling Sustainable Development Goals in Low-Income Micron Island Countries: Implications for Biodiversity, Conservation and Natural Resource Conservation
Measures of cross-border impacts need to be better integrated into progress targets, so that they don’t cost another region anything Many high-income countries have practices that hinder SDG progress in LMICs, including importing goods that have environmental impacts overseas, supporting tax havens and the dumping of electronic and other wastes.
Strengthening global governance to achieve this transition will be challenging in the current geopolitical context. The frameworks in the world provide workable plans for scaling sustainable transitions. These include, for example, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. The task is to shift the focus from negotiating over problems to delivering solutions, and to introduce strong enforcement mechanisms.
The true cost of planetary damage needs to be factored into all economic transactions. This requires a price on carbon, as well as tariffs on activities that undermine the functioning of ecosystems, freshwater cycles, marine systems and biochemical flows. The global financial system, starting with the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and regional development banks, needs to agree on universal principles for de-risking sustainable investments in LMICs, and putting an end to investments in planet-damaging operations.
Source: Extending the Sustainable Development Goals to 2050 — a road map
Aligning Governments to Missions to Support Sustainable Development Goals (including a proposal by KfW Development Bank and the Department of Environment and Environment)
Governments should put in place dedicated and flexible systems to work across SDG priorities11, and build long-term, in-house knowledge rather than use consultants. They should strengthen their capacities to anticipate, adapt and learn about what works in and across organizations. They should design tools, institutions and partnerships to maximize public value, engage citizens and build and manage digital infrastructures that serve the common good2,11.
It is important to improve regional cooperation in a number of ways, including managing rainforests, river basins, and aquifers. There will be need for data sharing through open-data initiatives.
Public investment needs to be increased and paced to meet the newSDGs. This will involve financial commitments and strategic allocations that build complementarities across human capital, infrastructure, business capital and natural capital2,3. To deliver returns from business investment, for example, countries must ensure they have a skilled workforce — through universal access to quality education — and infrastructure for energy, water, transport, digital services and so on. Investment in the crucial infrastructure in LMICs has been underfunded.
The purpose of the mission is to get the UN to achieve energy systems with net-zero emissions, to diminish health inequalities and to close the digital divide by a specific date. For example, one target of the European Union’s ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’ mission is to reduce plastic litter at sea by at least 50% by 2030.
Missions bring together different sectors and types of firms to achieve ambitious goals. For example, in its efforts to protect and restore marine and freshwater ecosystems in Europe, the European Commission has convened 13 of its ministries (or directorates-general) — including those responsible for climate action, maritime affairs and fisheries, and research and innovation, to tackle the mission in a whole-of-government way.
Spin-offs can result, which are not captured by conventional cost-benefit analyses. For example, NASA’s Apollo missions led to camera phones, foil blankets and formula milk. Governments need to develop dynamic methodologies to measure these multiplicative effects.
Multilateral and national development banks can also be aligned around deep transformation pathways and innovative missions14,15. The green loans programme for heavy industry of the KfW Development Bank aligned its long- term and low-interest finance to the government’s energy transition mission, which has resulted in Germany’s green steel sector growth.
Why aren’t Sustainable Development Goals at the Summit of the Future? Experts say the case of the Pact for the Future draft
When a well-thought-out plan isn’t succeeding, what should the response be? Do you abandon the plan completely? Hope that it just needs more time to work? Get to know why it isn’t working and make changes accordingly.
Is it possible to improve on the existing approach? Researchers from institutions in Europe and the United States suggest a combination of responses to a Comment article. The researchers believe that the goals should not change and that the indicators for many of the targets should also stay the same. They are also calling for more ambition. Providing social protection for vulnerable people is one way to end poverty. The goal of zero hunger should be tackled as well.
There are two reasons why this proposal is well timed. UN secretary-general António Guterres has invited representatives of world leaders to gather in New York City this September for a meeting called the Summit of the Future. The Pact for the Future draft refers to a proposal to identify indicators similar to the sustainable development goals, orSDGs. Few of the SDGs have the priority, status and attention in national policymaking that SDG 8 (economic growth) does. Guterres wants to change this and get policymakers to focus not just on economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP), but on a dashboard of indicators that he is calling Beyond GDP.