Scientific evidence on the political impact of the Sustainable Development Goals

Biermann, Frank; Hickmann, Thomas; Sénit, Carole‐Anne; Beisheim, Marianne; Bernstein, Steven; Chasek, Pamela; Grob, Leonie; Kim, Rakhyun E.; Kotzé, Louis J.; Nilsson, Måns; Llanos, Andrea Ordóñez; Okereke, Chukwumerije; Pradhan, Prajal; Raven, Rob; Sun, Yixian; Vijge, Marjanneke J.; Vuuren, Detlef van; Wicke, Birka

doi:10.1038/s41893-022-00909-5

Cited by 216 publications

(133 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Joint action thus becomes possible without a requirement for consensus (Huvila, 2011). For the SDGs, for example, one study found that '70% of CEOs see the SDGs as a powerful framing to accelerate sustainability-related efforts of their companies' (Biermann et al, 2022). At the same time, city governments may see evidencing progress against the SDGs as an opportunity to strengthen their profile as international, modern and progressive, thereby increasing the city's attractiveness (Mocca, 2017), while activists might see them as a tool to address specific issues, such as girls' education or wetland conservation.…”

Section: Boundary Objects and Wicked Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In light of these complexities, insights from existing SDG localisation approaches (Allen et al, 2018) are needed to address the global challenge of the sustainable development of cities and communities (Fan et al, 2022;Leavesley et al, 2022). Recent studies have pointed to the importance of language and meaning in enabling coherence between the different views and interests involved in localising the SDGs in cities (Valencia et al, 2019;Biermann et al, 2022). Relatedly, much prior work in city strategising for sustainability points towards the need to span boundaries (Carlile, 2004) to form and maintain partnerships for change (Huxham and Vangen, 2000;Noble and Jones, 2006;Elmqvist et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Leveraging the Sustainable Development Goals as a boundary object in the City of Bristol

Bürger

Parker

2023

Global Social Challenges Journal

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This study examines how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be leveraged to facilitate strategic change towards sustainability involving multiple stakeholders in a pluralistic city environment. By drawing on an exemplary case study of the localisation of the SDGs in Bristol, a medium-sized UK city, we show how the goals can operate as a boundary object. In particular, we identify a pattern in which the discursive localisation of the SDGs moved from problematisation and visioning through strategising and structuring towards embedding and performing. In addition, we elaborate on the three tensions that the SDGs help participants to understand and use productively, that is, across scale, time and different ways of valuing. Our study contributes to research on strategic change in pluralistic settings, such as cities, by offering a nuanced account of the discursive use of the SDGs by organisations involved in a city’s sustainable development. Furthermore, by proposing a framework based on the specific tensions that play an important role in the discursive localisation, our study advances research on the role of city strategising and practice more generally.

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Section: Boundary Objects and Wicked Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging the Sustainable Development Goals as a boundary object in the City of Bristol

Bürger

Parker

2023

Global Social Challenges Journal

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“…The GTFCC theory of change for cholera elimination (adapted from: [1]) Despite the commitment of governments and organisations to large-scale strategies, many argue that they fail to produce significant improvements in their goals [2,3]. There have been gains in cholera control at a local level in recent decades, although this has been minimal at the global level [4,5].…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cholera past and future in Nigeria: are the Global Task Force on Cholera Control’s 2030 targets achievable?

Charnley

Yennan

Ochu

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Background Understanding and continually assessing the achievability of global health targets is key to reducing disease burden and mortality. The Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC) Roadmap aims to reduce cholera deaths by 90% and eliminate the disease in twenty countries by 2030. The Roadmap has three axes focusing on reporting, response and coordination. Here, we assess the achievability of the GTFCC targets in Nigeria and identify where the three axes could be strengthened to reach and exceed these goals. Methodology/Principal Findings First, historical data were analysed for cholera death rates and a range of well-established cholera risk factors (particularly those included in the best fit models), using correlation, regression, autocorrelation function and AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Averages. Next, future scenario datasets were created (based on varying degrees of socioeconomic development and emission reductions) and used to project future cholera outbreak occurrence and transmission to 2070. The two models used were a generalised linear model and a random forest model. The historical data highlighted the significant cholera burden in Nigeria and its correlation with sanitation access. The projections suggest that significant reductions in cholera cases could be achieved by 2030, particularly in the more developed southern states, but increases in cases remain a possibility. Meeting the 2030 target, nationally, currently looks unachievable and we propose a new 2050 target focusing on reducing regional inequities. Conclusion/Significance The 2030 targets could potentially be reached by 2030 in some parts of Nigeria, but more effort is needed to reach these targets at a national level, particularly through access and incentives to cholera testing, sanitation expansion, poverty alleviation and urban planning. The results highlight the importance of and how modelling studies can be used to inform cholera policy and the potential for this to be applied in other contexts.

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“…Global supply chains and trade feature prominently in these debates as they allow high-income countries to externalize sustainability risks associated with pollution-and labor-intensive production overseas (Wiedmann, Lenzen, Keyßer et al, 2020). Given limited multilateral political momentum (Biermann, Hickmann, Sénit et al, 2022), the onus of unilateral action is on high-income democracies of the Global North.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Preference Formation Towards Sustainable Global Supply Chains Policy

Kolcava¹,

Smith²,

Bernauer³

2022

Preprint

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Effectively governing environmental and social externalities throughout the global economy poses challenges for democratic policy-makers in the court of public opinion. Following the median voter model, as the stringency of policy proposals increases, support rises amongst some citizens and falls amongst others. We argue informational disclosure-based governance presents a potential strategy to mitigate this zero-sum logic as citizens discount policy costs while expecting substantive benefits. We focus on political efforts to increase sustainability throughout global supply chains, drawing on two original survey experiments with representative samples in the 12 largest high-income importing economies (N=24,000). Indeed, at higher levels of policy stringency, citizens expect greater benefits than costs. Further, we find that expected benefits are more strongly associated with support than costs. Lastly, we note how policy stringency promotes convergence of expected benefits across the political ideological spectrum. Hence, our findings provide insights into public preference formation towards the globalization-sustainability nexus.

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Scientific evidence on the political impact of the Sustainable Development Goals

Cited by 216 publications

References 57 publications

Leveraging the Sustainable Development Goals as a boundary object in the City of Bristol

Leveraging the Sustainable Development Goals as a boundary object in the City of Bristol

Cholera past and future in Nigeria: are the Global Task Force on Cholera Control’s 2030 targets achievable?

Public Preference Formation Towards Sustainable Global Supply Chains Policy

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