TO MEET GLOBAL GOALS, CITIES AND BUSINESSES NEED CONCRETE TARGETS
29/11/2024
Cities and businesses have an untapped potential to drive global sustainability efforts, but both need clear directives to act. Could empowering them be the key to achieving future development goals?
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to tackle critical global challenges we face by the end of the decade. However, as that deadline approaches, progress remains uneven and many targets are far from being met.
In an article in the journal Science, Xuemei Bai, a member of the Earth Commission and Distinguished Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society at The Australian National University, argues that achieving future global ambitions will require explicit, actionable targets for cities and businesses.
“The SDGs successfully highlight where we need to go, but they fall short in specifying who should do what and, importantly, how much, to get us there,” she writes in her Expert Voice piece published in the September 13, 2024 issue of Science.
Bai leads the Commission’s efforts on translating its global assessments on safe and just Earth System Boundaries into concrete targets for actors like businesses and cities. This ensures the boundaries are not just conceptual but can be tailored to guide local and organizational action.
The Commission’s Translation, Actors and Agency Workstream focuses on advancing the science of translating Earth System Boundaries into actor shares of resources and responsibilities, which the Science Based Targets Network will then help cities and businesses incorporate into their urban planning and corporate strategies.
MOBILIZING BEYOND NATIONS
Nations have been the primary actors in the SDGs framework since it was adopted in 2015. But their efforts alone are not enough. As hubs of consumption and innovation, cities have immense potential to influence global sustainability. Bai emphasizes that cities must look beyond their local challenges and contribute to broader goals, such as reducing carbon emissions and preserving biodiversity.
Like cities, businesses also are powerful agents of change but lack clear directives within the SDGs framework. Establishing concrete targets, such as increasing investments aligned with sustainability, could drive meaningful action.
Bai calls for the next generation of global goals to integrate science-based targets that reflect ecological limits, account for equity, and encourage progressive ambition. Aligning these efforts with frameworks like the Commission’s Safe and Just Earth System Boundaries can ensure a safe and just future for people and the planet. And the learnings from this can provide valuable insights into the translation and adapting process.This can help elevate the application of science-based targets for the global commons, connecting them to broader societal goals.
While challenges such as political barriers and data gaps persist, engaging stakeholders early on and having clear signals from global leaders could mobilize businesses and cities as drivers of a sustainable lifestyle.
This shift, Bai argues, is essential for a more inclusive and effective global agenda beyond 2030.
Read the full article here.
