GlobalGoals Webinar Series

The GLOBALGOALS Webinar Series is contributing to the work of the Taskforce on the Sustainable Development Goals of the Earth System Governance Group.

The second webinar explored the question whether the SDGs had had any impact in global sustainability governance. Our leading authors of the second chapter, Marianne Beisheim (SWP Berlin) and Steven Bernstein (University of Toronto), presented key findings. Javier Surasky of Centro de Pensamiento Estratégico Internacional (Cepei) contributed to this webinar with his professional expertise as coordinator of the Global Governance Unit at Cepei.

Besides Marianne and Steven, the team of chapter 2 Global Governance and Sustainable Development Goals also consists of Frank Biermann, Pamela Chasek, Melanie van Driel, Felicitas Fritzsche, Carole-Anne Sénit and Silke Weinlich.

In our third webinar, co-lead author of chapter three Rob Raven, and contributing author Yixian Sun, illustrated whether and how the SDGs have influenced the actions and discourses of actors on the national and sub-national level, as well as those of the private sector and of civil society actors. Discussant of this webinar was Anne-Sophie Stevance, senior science officer at the International Science Council (ISC).

Next to Rob and Yixian, the author team of this chapter also includes co-lead author Andrea Ordóñez Llanos, Magdalena Bexell, Brianna Botchwey, Basil Bornemann, Jecel Censoro, Marius Christen, Liliana Díaz, Thomas Hickmann, Kristina Jönsson, Imme Scholz, Michelle Scobie, John Thompson, John Thwaites and Abbie Yunita.

The fourth webinar is dedicated to the topic of ‘Interlinkages, Integration and Coherence’ – the fourth chapter of the Global Goals Impact Assessment. In this chapter, the author team analysed to what extent the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs have been successful in the ambition to break down silos in order to strengthen institutional integration and policy coherence at national level.

The distinguished panelists, Måns Nilsson and Marjanneke Vijge, will present key findings of the chapter. Their presentation is followed by a reflection from Ernesto Soria Morales, Senior Analyst for Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

This webinar episode is dedicated to the topic of ‘Inclusiveness’, the fifth chapter of the Global Goals Impact Assessment. In this chapter, the author team analysed to what extent and under what conditions the SDGs have fostered a better inclusion and support of poor and vulnerable communities within countries, and of the least developed countries internationally. The distinguished panelists, Chukwumerije Okereke and Carole-Anne Sénit, present key findings of the chapter, followed by a reflection from Madina Guloba.

This webinar is dedicated to the topic of ‘Planetary Integrity’, the sixth chapter of the Global Goals Impact Assessment. In this chapter, the author team analysed to what extent and under what conditions the SDGs have advanced planetary ecological integrity, that is, strengthened policies towards the preservation of global commons at various levels of governance. The distinguished panellists, Louis Kotzé and Rakhyun Kim, present key findings of the chapter.

The webinar on March 10th is dedicated to the topic of ‘Methods for Analysing Steering Effects of the SDGs’, the seventh chapter of the Global Goals Impact Assessment. In this chapter, the authors have conducted a review of the multi-faceted landscape of methods used to study the steering effects of the SDGs and provide a meta-level and interdisciplinary perspective on these methods. The distinguished panellists and lead authors of the chapter, Prajal Pradhan, Detlef van Vuuren and Birka Wicke present key findings of the chapter. Their presentation is followed by a reflection from Fernando Cantu, Chief Statistician at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

This final session of the GlobalGoals webinar series presents key lessons from the SDG Impact Assessment. The event involves all lead authors of the six thematic chapters and their presentation is focused on main messages and future avenues for research and policy. The assessment finds that the effects of the SDGs are so far mainly present in the political discourse, while we do not see any substantial effects on the (re-)allocation of resources by governments. The assessment moreover points to a lack of incentive structures that guide public and private funding towards sustainable pathways. In a nutshell, the SDG Impact Assessment suggests that the SDGs are not (yet) leading to fundamental and transformational changes and that the voluntary nature of the 2030 Agenda makes it easy for actors to implement the SDGs in a way that benefits their self-interests.