10 January 2016: Stakeholder groups issued recommendations for the priorities of UN Secretary-General António Guterres and their views on needed UN reforms. Meanwhile, as Germany takes over the Group of 20 (G20) presidency, German organizations have published reports on the G20’s role in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
On the UN Secretary-General’s agenda, Richard Ponzio and Michael Schroeder propose a “change leadership” strategy based on modest changes that will accumulate over time. The article, titled ‘A Fool’s Errand? The Next Secretary-General and UN Reform’, recommends that Guterres: provide organizational direction by defining an operational mission; leave thought leadership to others; introduce a reform agenda incrementally and implement it over multiple rounds; embrace informal change, such as establishing new practices; and foster collective leadership by influencing and empowering “smart coalitions” of state and non-state actors that can enact changes to intergovernmental structures and global norms.
UN staff and respondents from developing countries consider sustainable development to be the highest functional priority, and many emphasized the importance of climate change in sustainable development.
The Future UN Development System (FUNDS) published the results of a global survey on perceptions of the UN. It finds that UN staff and respondents from developing countries consider sustainable development to be the highest functional priority, and many emphasized the importance of climate change in sustainable development. On priorities for Guterres’ first six months, respondents called for him to address conflict and human displacement, implement peacekeeping and peacebuilding proposals, and draft a new agenda for peace. UN staff considered it a priority to conduct a review of the UN Development System’s effectiveness. By the end of Guterres’ term, respondents said, he should achieve closer integration of the UN’s functions, effective monitoring and implementation of the SDGs, and monitoring of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Among other findings, 63% of respondents perceive the UN as ineffective, with that proportion rising to 72% for respondents from the Middle East and North Africa.
The German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) released a report that reflects on the role of the G20 in advancing implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. The report, titled ‘Development and justice through transformation: The Four Big “I”s,’ recommends transforming energy systems and high-emissions infrastructure to inspire innovation and increase investment in sustainability, climate protection and other sustainable infrastructure. It argues that such an approach can also tackle inequality and promote inclusion. The authors call on the G20 and the German G20 presidency to promote such innovation, investment, infrastructure and inclusion as part of the G20 programme.
Also on the G20, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung launched an online information portal, ‘G20 in Focus.’ The interactive website features publications, infographics and other material on the G20 countries and the G20’s agenda. The website aims to raise awareness on who the G20 is and what it does.
On SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), Interpublic Group (IPG) released a video as part of its efforts to raise awareness on the SDGs through advertising, as part of its partnership with Common Ground, a collaborative effort by advertising and marketing companies to support the SDGs. The video underscores the importance of safe, clean drinking water in sustaining life, health and peace. The company’s sustainability website, STRONGER, also features a SDG 6 sorting tool and shares case studies on topics including hand washing, hygiene and access to clean water.
On sustainable infrastructure (SDG 9), PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) highlights five themes that are likely to guide infrastructure spending and investment in 2017 and beyond, with an emphasis on the quickly changing nature of markets, politics and technology. The five overarching themes are: broadening horizons among investors; increasing infrastructure spending in the UK and US as a result of changing political leadership, and the potential for additional increases as governments use infrastructure as a tool to spread wealth; future-proofing investments against obsolescence; shifting tensions between long-term sustainable infrastructure and cost concerns; and prioritizing infrastructure in commodity-rich regions.
On SDG financing, the German Development Institute (DIE) has released a paper with recommendations for adjusting development cooperation to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The paper, titled ‘The concept of SDG-sensitive development cooperation: implications for OECD-DAC members,’ highlights: the possibility of reaching a coherent international policy approach for sustainable development through a whole-of-government approach, including a strong focus on development cooperation; leverage points where the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) should adjust its allocation decisions to provide SDG-sensitive development cooperation, such as aid channel, instrument-mix, country, and sector; and the importance of development providers’ recognizing the 2030 Agenda as an opportunity for strategic investment in sustainable development. [A Fool’s Errand?] [FUNDS Article] [FUNDS Survey Briefing] [Development and justice through transformation] [G20 in Focus] [The concept of SDG-sensitive development cooperation] [IPG Press Release] [IPG Video on SDG 6] [STRONGER Website] [PwC Blog]