SDSN UK convened researchers, policy makers and industry professionals in Southampton for the ‘Going Green: Debating the socio-economic impacts of achieving Net Zero’ conference to identify the most pressing research questions for a Net Zero future.
The Europe Sustainable Development Report 2023/24, produced by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) in collaboration with SDSN Europe and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), reveals that decisive actions must be taken in the European Union (EU) to avoid environmental and social ‘tipping points’ and to maintain the promise of achieving the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda and the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement.
The fifth edition of the ESDR, which includes the SDG Index and Dashboards, tracks progress on the SDGs of the EU, its Member States, and partner countries in Europe. The report highlights that at the current rate, a third of the SDG targets will not be achieved by the EU by 2030, with significant differences across European countries; these range from a quarter in Northern and Western Europe to around half in Southern Europe and Central and Eastern Europe on average.
SDSN UK partnered with SDSN Germany and a number of other organisations to host an official side event at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York . The event focussed on negative spillover effects and the challenges posed by designing sustainable supply chains.
Find out more by reading our report on the event:
Read here our most recent blog article exploring the assumptions and mechanisms of change behind monitoring and reporting on the SDGs when compared with the practical challenges reported in the literature. This blog is a contribution from IIPP’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) students, Charles Beaudry and Daniela Alvarado.
This blog post is the second in a series on the power of SDG data to drive transformational change. The first blog post can be accessed here.
Read here our blog exploring the potential of SDG data to drive transformational change. This blog is a contribution from IIPP’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) students, Charles Beaudry and Daniela Alvarado.
More than 40 Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) UK members and stakeholders met to build momentum for the contribution of UK higher education institutions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
SDSN UK, hosted at UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP), has convened its membership and collaborators in person for the first time since its launch.
SDSN UK was set up to bring together UK knowledge institutions around practical solutions that contribute to the implementation of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the first part of the event, on 26 April 2023, SDSN UK members gathered at IIPP to review the first year of activities and achievements of the network, which has now grown to more than 20 UK universities and research centres, and discussed strategic orientations for 2023-2025.
SDSN’s Global Solutions Forum (GSF) brings together sustainable development experts from around the world to showcase how they are implementing local initiatives that are advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
About the 2023 edition
SDSN is very happy to announce a new edition of the GLOBAL SOLUTIONS FORUM (GSF). The event will be held alongside the G-STIC Rio Conference (Brazil) on February 15th 2023.
The GSF is a global initiative that aims to showcase the most transformative and scalable solutions from within the SDSN network.
This edition will focus on solutions that address health and/or sustainable development challenges that intersect with health-related issues, in alignment with the priority themes established by the GSTIC Conference.
The conference is hosted by Fiocruz, a leading institution for science & technology in health in Latin America, and co-host institution of SDSN’s Health for all thematic network.
Find out more and register to attend virtually here.
Paris, 05 December 2022: The 4th edition of the Europe Sustainable Development Report (ESDR) was released on Mon, 5th December. It includes the SDG Index and Dashboards which track progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the EU, its member states and partner countries. The report shows that, seven years after the SDG’s adoption by the international community and amid multiple crises, the EU`s progress on the SDGs has stalled. Based on trend data available since 2015, the EU is still on track achieving around two-thirds of the targets, yet a third of the targets show insufficient progress or are heading in the wrong direction, especially those related to responsible consumption, climate and biodiversity (SDG2; 12-15). Through unsustainable consumption and trade the EU generates large negative spillovers on the rest of the world.
Guillaume Lafortune, Vice President of the SDSN and lead author of the report, states that:
“In the midst of multiple health, security, climate, and financial crises the SDGs remain the future Europe and the world want. By living up to the ambitions of the European Green Deal at home and strengthening access to international SDG financing, the EU can achieve its strategic objectives and rally other countries to its values centered around human dignity, freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. The EU’s leadership and diplomacy will remain critical to advancing key multilateral processes towards achieving the SDGs including at the UN Heads of States’ SDG Summit in September 2023 and UN Summit of the Future in 2024.”
Adolf Kloke-Lesch, Co-Chair of SDSN Europe, emphasizes:
“Diplomacy, peace, and global cooperation are fundamental preconditions for making any progress on sustainable development. The EU should ensure a proactive and SDG oriented foreign and security policy and invest in its international partnerships. In a multipolar world, peace cannot be assured solely through ‘defense against’ thinking but also requires a ‘cooperation for’ approach: for a sustainable, peaceful future. In view of the mid-point in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, it is now the time for the EU to rise to the occasion and invest “whatever it takes” in the global common good, epitomized and documented in the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.”
Paris, 23 November 2022 – The football World Cup in Qatar raised concerns about human rights’ violations and climate impacts, notably in the construction sector. Today, the new study released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the University of Sydney, in cooperation with the German Government, shows that each year, through international trade and across all industrial sectors, the EU’s consumption is associated with 1.2 million cases of modern slavery and 4200 fatal accidents at work in the world. Also, about 40% of the total greenhouse gas emissions’ footprint of the European Union each year takes place outside of its borders to satisfy EU consumers.
Continue reading “Press Release | EU’s Consumption is a Major Driver of Forced Labour and Accidents at Work Globally, says New Study by SDSN and the University of Sydney”
Dr Agnes Kalibata, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
Date: Monday 28 November
Time: 17.30 – Lecture
18.30 – Reception
Venue: Online or G16, Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ
Please register to attend on Eventbrite by Friday 11 November.
We are pleased to announce that Dr Agnes Kalibata, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), will give the 2022 Annual Lecture of the Global Development Hub at Imperial College London.
Dr Kalibata will set-out a food systems change agenda for government, the private sector and policy makers, and underline the role for science and technology in driving innovation and informing evidence-based food systems interventions.
Agnes Kalibata is a Rwandan agricultural scientist, policy-maker and advocate focused on food system reform. Born in Rwanda and raised as a refugee in Uganda, she went on to become Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, promoting the use of science-based approaches to agriculture to increase food production and improve food security, with a focus on family farmers. Since 2014 she has been president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an African-led organization committed to improving the food security and incomes of farming households in African countries. She served as the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the 2021 Food Systems Summit, accelerating action totransform food systems around the world to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Dr Kalibata is a member of the Malabo Montpellier Panel.
Professor David Nabarro, the Co-lead, UN Global Crisis Response Group, World Health Organisation’s Special Envoy on COVID-19 and Co-Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London will lead a Q&A session with Dr Kalibata.
