Next week, the Earth System Governance (ESG) Research Centre Bath in collaboration with the ESG Taskforce on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will host a day-long workshop on the Future of the SDG’s.
The city of Bath, home to the newest ESG Research Centre
Background to the Workshop
Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in 2015, the 17 SDGs and 169 targets have received mixed feedback. While some praised this global agreement for its potential to guide governments and non–state actors for promoting sustainable development worldwide, others pointed to potential trade–offs between goals and challenges in evaluating the attainment of all targets. The recent published impact assessment led by the GlobalGoals project shows that the SDGs have yet to make transformational changes in policies and institutions. Such limited impact and the debates around it have raised several important questions: What changes are needed now to improve progress towards existing goals and targets? What should replace them after 2030? Are more fundamental changes in governance needed to galvanise effort to protect people and planet?
2023 is an important year for the SDGs as we are now halfway through the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the second SDG summit will take place in September in New York. Therefore, it is timely for researchers and practitioners to reflect on the lessons learned in the past seven and half years and to anticipate the future of global sustainability governance. The purpose of this workshop is twofold: first, we want to co–develop an agenda to study the impact of the SDGs and the future of this governance mode; second, we will discuss policy proposals that can feed into upcoming political events, including the High–Level Political Forum in July and the SDG Summit in September.
This workshop will gather researchers and practitioners to brainstorm key questions for future research on the SDGs as well as political messages that need to be sent to policymakers around the world. It will be in the format of a world café.
Agenda
Time (BST) Theme
8:45 – 9:00 Arrival & Welcome
9:00 – 9:15 Introduction
9:15 – 9:45 The political impact of the SDGs
– Presentation by Prof Frank Biermann followed by Q&A
9:45 – 10:30 World–café 1: What are the important research questions on the SDGs?
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 11:30 Network analysis of SDG interlinkages
– Presentation by Prof Jonathan Dawes followed by Q&A
11:30 – 12:15 World–café 2: What approaches are needed for the SDG research?
12:15 – 13:30 Lunch break
13:30 – 14:00 Recent trends in the global governance of the SDGs
– Presentation by Prof Pamela Chasek followed by Q&A
14:00 – 15:00 World–café 3: Political recommendations for the upcoming UN events
15:00 – 15:30 Coffee break
15:30 –16:00 Challenges in the local implementation of the SDGs
– Presentation by Dr Aurelie Charles followed by Q&A
16:00 – 17:00 World–café 4: Governance through goals in the post–2030 era
17:00 – 17:30 Wrap–up & Next steps
If you would like to join this meeting last minute, please get in touch with Yixian Sun at ys2327@bath.ac.uk to receive a zoom link.
Contact
Workshop organiser: Dr Yixian Sun
