13 July 2018
TWI2050 Assesses Global Transformations for the SDGs
Photo by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth
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Prepared by more than 60 authors and 20 organizations, TWI2050 report explores a series of measures needed to achieve all the SDGs, while accounting for synergies and trade-offs.

The report focuses on six “exemplary transformations” in human capacity and demography; consumption and production; decarbonization and energy; food, biosphere, and water; smart cities; and digital revolution, needed to achieve the SDGs.

12 July 2018: On the sidelines of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), The World in 2050 Initiative (TWI2050) launched its first report exploring transformational pathways to attain the SDGs. The report is based on the premises that no science-based pathways exist for successfully achieving all the SDGs simultaneously, and the global transformations necessary to achieve the Goals urgently need a “robust scientific foundation and fact-based way forward.”

The report titled, ‘Transformations to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,’ notes that attaining the SDGs by 2030 requires “deep transformation” at all levels and across all areas of human activity, new social values and norms, and changes in “individual belief systems” that shape attitudes and behaviors. It shows that transformation towards a sustainable future is possible, but ambitious action is needed “now.” This calls for, inter alia, investing in future priorities such as high-quality schools, improved health systems, efficiency and zero-carbon energy, environmental conservation and restoration, better food systems, more sustainable lifestyles, good governance institutions, and global cooperation initiatives to leverage dynamics towards the implementation of the SDGs.

The report identifies major sustainable development challenges that are described by the SDGs, namely:

  • many people are trapped in an extreme poverty that is multidimensional, and have high and rising inequalities of income, employment and social status;
  • human activity is degrading the physical environment and the global commons;
  • demographic stresses are arising from high fertility rates (mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of the Middle East), rapid urbanization (especially in Africa and parts of Asia) and rapid aging; and
  • weak and bad governance, failing institutions, a rise in nationalism in many countries and regions, intensifying international conflicts, and eroding multilateral systems are undermining the local, national and global capacities to implement the 2030 Agenda.

The publication also outlines the need to move beyond the sectoral and fragmented approach, and it focuses on six “exemplary transformations” needed to achieve the SDGs by 2030. Those are: human capacity and demography; consumption and production; decarbonization and energy; food, biosphere, and water; smart cities; and digital revolution. The report also emphasizes the need to link these transformations with governance considerations, arguing that transformations require governance structures and capabilities, political action, and the formation of actors of change at local, national and global levels.

During the report’s launch event on 12 July, Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), outlined the importance of making governance work and of “re-establishing planning,” since, he said, there is currently “no planning” in much of the world, and a lack of capacity to think ahead. Alessandra Casazza, UN Development Programme (UNDP), explained that in many African countries, for example, planning systems need to be modernized, but governments favor incremental changes to “drastic changes,” and budgets are often based on sectoral approaches. She added that some countries are starting to adopt program-based budgeting and other cross-sectoral approaches, but their effectiveness requires political will and leadership, in addition to capacity.

Among elements the report should consider in the future, participants noted the need to assess the financial resources required to implement the “transformations” identified. Others called for examining the transformations needed at the country level, and for relying not only on models, but on other approaches as well. Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Deputy Director General, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), remarked that a 2019 edition of the report could be complementary to the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR), also scheduled to be released in 2019.

Prepared by more than 60 authors and 20 organizations, TWI2050 uses a framework that allows modeling and analytical groups, such as integrated assessment and Earth system modelers, to explore jointly a series of measures needed to achieve all the SDGs, while accounting for synergies and trade-offs.

TWI2050 is a global research initiative that seeks to “provide the fact-based knowledge” to support the policy process and implementation of the SDGs, and to address “transformational challenges” related to achieving the 17 SDGs “in an integrated manner.” The initiative brings together a network of more than 150 participants including leading policymakers, businesses, modeling and analytical teams from around the world. It was launched in 2015 by IIASA, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), and the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC). [Publication: Transformations to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals] [TWI2050 Webpage] [Report Launch Webpage] [IISD RS Coverage of HLPF 2018]


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