By Julian Vercruysse, Beyond Lab, and Livia Bizikova, IISD

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Beyond Lab at UN Geneva, organized an event focused on advancing the ‘Beyond GDP’ concept through education, skills development, and inclusive policymaking. The discussion underscored the urgent need to equip young people and professionals with the competencies required to measure and promote sustainable economic development.

Livia Bizikova, IISD, emphasized that traditional gross domestic product (GDP) metrics fail to capture what societies truly value, such as environmental health, social equity, and long-term resilience. IISD shared insights from its work on comprehensive wealth accounting, noting that while three-quarters of the necessary data already exist within national statistical offices, significant gaps remain in capacity and knowledge. Education systems, still largely geared toward GDP-centric skills, must evolve to integrate sustainability concepts, she noted.

Bizikova emphasized the importance of engaging a broad set of stakeholders to create a movement that goes beyond the “initial excitement,” pointing to the UN’s growing engagement in Beyond GDP as an illustration. This follows from the Pact for the Future, which mandated the UN Secretary-General to create an independent High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP to develop recommendations for a limited number of country-owned and universally applicable indicators of sustainable development that complement and go beyond GDP.

Country perspectives and frameworks

To advance Beyond GDP efforts, country examples are critical to illustrate data availability, the relevance of Beyond GDP to decision making, and the overall uptake by the media and the public – like it is the case now for GDP.

Gonzalo Castro de la Mata, Executive Director, Earthna, presented Qatar’s sustainability framework, illustrating the limitations of GDP as a measure of progress. Despite high GDP per capita, Qatar faces severe ecological constraints, he said, with no permanent water bodies, minimal biomass, and declining renewable natural capital.

Building on the World Bank’s comprehensive wealth methodology, which assesses countries’ wealth across natural, human, knowledge, physical/infrastructure, social, and institutional capital, Castro de la Mata explained that to maintain or grow wealth, the increase of one type of wealth must be greater than the depletion of another. This analysis demonstrated that Qatar’s wealth is increasing as natural capital is being used to generate greater human and infrastructure capital – an economic model that could remain relevant for Qatar up to 2050 and beyond.

Key gaps and opportunities to build skill to advance Beyond GDP efforts

Young people and young professionals in government, non-governmental agencies, and the private sector need skills and capabilities to initiate and implement efforts on Beyond GDP. This requires building a robust knowledge base to deepen the understanding of the Beyond GDP concept and of opportunities and benefits associated with a country or society moving beyond GDP. This, in turn, would encourage greater demand for such information from governments, the media, and the research community.

One critical building block is the importance of investing in human and cultural capital. Addressing participants, Ebru Canan-Sokullu, Director, UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Global Water Academy, and Associate Head, CIFAL Global Network, emphasized the importance of adapting training to be context specific and culturally sensitive to cater toward diverse stakeholders, from policymakers to young entrepreneurs. Noting that young professionals today are very different than previous generations, she highlighted the need to adapt to a new paradigm. “Yesterday, it was about lecturing, today is about hearing,” she said. This emphasizes how important it is to ensure young people are not merely consulted but empowered as architects of how we measure and achieve sustainable development.

As an example of youth-centered engagement, Nathalie Delorme, Associate Political Affairs Officer, Beyond Lab, shared the Youth Moving Beyond GDP initiative and its Youth Network on Beyond GDP. This partnership was created around a shared belief, she said, that young people must help redefine how the world measures progress to ensure human and planetary well-being, inclusion, and long-term sustainability. It started with a global essay competition that invited participants to reflect on “what counts in the future,” which, she said, drew more than 600 submissions in 2023. As the UN was establishing its process on Beyond GDP, Delorme noted, the initiative revealed a clear message: young people are not abandoning economics; they are reshaping it to value care, community, the planet, and current and future generations.

Delorme outlined how Youth Moving Beyond GDP creates meaningful spaces for intergenerational policymaking at high-level gatherings such as the Summit of the Future (SoF), the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), and the Second World Summit on Social Development. She said its Youth Network on Beyond GDP, launched at FfD4, now connects young economic thinkers worldwide and serves as a sounding board for the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP.

Speakers highlighted that development cannot be reduced to “simplistic” measures like GDP. Rather, its complexity demands that science engage deeply in the “messiness” of transdisciplinary science research.

Megha Sud, Senior Science Officer, International Science Council, stressed that while transdisciplinary research has a long history, fragmented funding structures hinder the formation of sustained collaborations and trust. She said institutional change is essential, alongside building a new skillset for scientists – one that combines ethics, negotiation, and a commitment to social impact. With limited resources flowing into science, Sud emphasized the need for the scientific community to become more inclusive and open in its practices, normalizing transdisciplinary approaches as the standard rather than the exception. To advance the SDGs, she said science must be embedded within society, connected to policy, and oriented toward serving the public good.

The panel also discussed the importance of technology as an enabler to go Beyond GDP, focusing on the critical role of building human capacity and fostering cross-sectoral collaboration.

Gitanjali Sah, Strategy and Policy Coordinator, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), emphasized that the ethical dimensions of technology are central in training future developers to ensure solutions like artificial intelligence (AI) serve society equitably and avoid biases. She said efforts such as the AI Skills Capacity Coalition aim to provide global digital skills training, while “meaningful connectivity” ensures communities not only access infrastructure but also have the capability to use it effectively. Sah explained how by connecting schools, supporting digital entrepreneurship, and partnering through initiatives like Partner to Connect, ITU promotes shared commitments and progress. Anchored in frameworks like the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) action lines, these efforts emphasize collective action and resource sharing to deliver digital capacity for all, she added.

Voices from youth

Juliano Sarube, youth leader from Paraguay, offered a powerful youth perspective to remind participants that Beyond GDP means measuring what we value, including creativity and resilience, not just productivity. Following his experience in founding the first Paraguay Vocational Training for Indigenous Peoples, he realized how education can become transformative when it is connected with real opportunities. Sarube explained how he leveraged emotional intelligence in training young people to become leaders in their communities to produce income and confidence. “Sustainable progress happens not only on what people produce but on what people become,” he underscored. Sarube reiterated the importance of youth participation in decision making and preparing young people not just for the job market but to redefine “the society we want.”

During discussion, a participant expressed concerns about the declining attention spans among youth. Panelists argued this should not be viewed as a crisis but as a signal of a paradigm shift in how knowledge is consumed. Rather than imposing outdated models, they advocated adapting curricula and teaching methods to resonate with new learning behaviors. Others highlighted the importance of combining the wisdom of older generations with the innovation of younger ones to create a balanced and sustainable future.

Participants then reflected on local governments linking public expenses to GDP, which they saw as the manifestation of a broader challenge: the persistence of simplistic economic metrics in policymaking. Speakers underscored that GDP alone cannot capture the complexity of trade, environmental sustainability, social dimensions, or long-term consequences. Several warned that prioritizing short-term incentives leaves little room for investments that secure future well-being, calling for mechanisms that reward long-term strategies. Others stressed the importance of informing citizens so they understand the relevance of human capital to growth, job creation, and economic diversification.

Looking ahead

In conclusion, participants agreed that moving beyond GDP requires a mindset shift, not just new metrics. They said education systems must prepare young people to redefine economic success, while policymakers need mechanisms and incentives to shift from short-term to long-term investments.

The event convened on 4 November 2025 as an official Solutions Session at the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, Qatar.

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This event was part of IISD’s work to raise awareness of efforts to advance metrics that go beyond GDP. It was made possible through financial support provided by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).