Are the SDGs working? Prof. Frank Biermann talks about his digital SDG Research Symposium
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims at nothing less than ‘Transforming our World’. But to what extent can this agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their 169 targets really trigger a transformation towards sustainable development?
This will be explored on 9-11 June at the online International SDG Research Symposium, which is hosted by Utrecht University and supported by the Strategic ThemePathways to Sustainability. We talked to co-chair Prof. Frank Biermann, research professor of global sustainability governance at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development to find out more.
Firstly, what’s so interesting about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals?
In 2015 the United Nations adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The ambition expressed in these goals is unprecedented; the Agenda aims at nothing less than ‘Transforming Our World’.
Utrecht University, as well as many other stakeholders such as governments, businesses, and civil society around the world are all using the SDGs to frame their policies and strategies.
But to what extent is the 2030 Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their 169 more concrete targets really triggering a transformation towards sustainable development? No one really knows! So really the important question is, are the SDGs working, and if so, when and how?
And why a symposium now?
It’s now five years down the line, and scholars all over the world are approaching this question from many different perspectives and starting points. In 2018 I won an ERC Advanced Grant to investigate the steering effects of the SDGs, and now there is a team of ten plus numerous Master’s students at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development who are working on unpacking this.
Are the SDGs, as promised, leaving ‘no one behind’?
It was the perfect time to bring the wider community together and share progress on important questions such as, are the SDGs, as promised, leaving ‘no one behind’? Are they helping align social justice with the protection of ecological systems? Are certain SDGs favoured over others, and if so, what are the consequences for the achievement of the other goals? And what methods are we and should we be using to measure their success?
The symposium has gone fully online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. How has that been?
As co-chairs, Carole-Anne Sénit, Thomas Hickmann and I, we are extremely excited to bring the SDG research community together in Utrecht. Obviously with the current situation we were unable to do so, but this has also broken down other barriers.
For example, we had an impressive number of submissions to the symposium,with many coming from scholars based in the Global South. But before going online,only able to support a very small number to attend. Now all these researchers, as well as many others based all over the world, are able to join the conversation.
Going online is of course also more environmentally friendly, and we hope to show that more sustainable conferences can be just as engaging and worthwhile.
Now researchers all over the world are able to join the conversation
Many researchers attend conferences for the networking aspect. How are you accommodating this?
We are trying to maintain at least some of the social components, with online breakfast, lunch and evening receptions, all organised in a way to accommodate all time zones. It’s a bit of an experiment, but we are hoping that people will still be able to meet and share ideas outside the presentation rooms!
Who should come?
The symposium consists of four plenary sessions from leading experts accessible to a larger public, as well as three dozen focused academic sessions with presentations of on-going research by scholars from all over the world. You can sign up for the whole event by registering on our website, or just follow the plenary livestreams.
What kind of outcome do you hope for the symposium?
At the symposium we are launching a high-profile ‘mid-term assessment’ of the potential transformative impacts of the SDGs that will be ready in time for the 2022 ‘Stockholm+50’ events worldwide. Several other high-level publications are planned as well!