Environment — Global
Transitioning from linear to circular models of production and consumption remains a significant challenge. How can we transform deeply ingrained practices, attitudes, and incentives across both supply and demand chains to facilitate this shift?
SDG-related initiatives are increasingly under attack from the more right-wing, populist parts of the political spectrum, who portray the Goals as misguided, wasteful, vain, and coercive. How can cities and local governments enhance their policymaking and implementation, and – crucially – secure buy-in to ensure initiatives achieve their intended outcomes?
Economic development — Global
Technology transfer is fundamental in developing countries’ aspirations to decarbonize, yet the flow of green tech from developed nations is far below what’s needed. How can we shift investment and political incentives to truly enable the proliferation of sustainable technology worldwide?
Data and monitoring — Global
As momentum on the SDGs stalls, AI’s promise of exponential growth could offer much-needed rapid acceleration across the 2030 Agenda. To harness AI effectively, we must ensure it serves those most in need, and that all countries – not just those in the Global North – can tap into its development benefits
Data and monitoring — Global
Deep-rooted digital divides within and between countries are currently increasing inequalities, with huge disparities in access to technology, infrastructure, and digital literacy. How can the proposed Global Digital Compact create a more inclusive and equitable digital landscape?
Financing — Global
Figures on official development assistance volumes are silent about ODA results. To support progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we urgently need new data and holistic evaluation methods to assess the effectiveness of ODA
Cyberspace — Global
In a global digital age, is protecting national sovereignty compatible with upholding human rights? How can the international community protect vulnerable populations from the external forces seeking to use digital infrastructure to control them?
Financing — Global
The pandemic revealed how rapid crisis spending creates profiteering opportunities for exploitative and corrupt actors. Strengthening anti-corruption measures is urgently needed to ensure that the anticipated investment surge toward achieving Agenda 2030 truly benefits the planet’s most vulnerable
Economic development — Global
When the SDGs were adopted in 2015, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda set out a vision for how the Goals would be financed. A decade on, the numbers remain woefully short of requirements. Next year’s follow-up conference must enable rapid acceleration of development finance if the 2030 Agenda is to retain any hope of success
Extractive and land resources — Sub-Saharan Africa
The shift toward cleaner energy requires high volumes of raw materials such as cobalt, copper, and lithium. These critical resources are often extracted from countries with poor governance structures and alarming rates of poverty. To achieve a just transition, we must confront and combat corruption in these resource-rich countries head on
