Tag: sustainable development

Africa, Building resilience

How can research help Least Developed Countries achieve sustainable development?

By Kunal Sen, Director of United Nations University – World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)

The next decade is a make-or-break for the world’s most vulnerable countries. To tackle the unprecedented confluence of COVID-19, climate, and economic crises, new solutions are desperately needed. Scientific research is one key for finding long-lasting solutions.

Continue reading “How can research help Least Developed Countries achieve sustainable development?”
Development Matters
Green transition

Carbon border adjustment: a powerful tool if paired with a just energy transition

By Randolph Bell, Director, Atlantic Council Global Energy Center; Richard Morningstar Chair for Global Energy Security and Elena Benaim, Intern, Atlantic Council Global Energy Centre  

Carbon border adjustment (CBA) policies are gaining momentum on both sides of the Atlantic. They were proposed as a key element in the European Green Deal and as part of US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s climate plan. But how do they work? Carbon border adjustment mechanisms tax imported goods based on their carbon footprint with the aim of limiting emissions leakage and levelling the playing field for domestic industries that produce goods with lower greenhouse gas emission footprints than imports that may be cheaper but have higher greenhouse gas footprints.

There are a number of technical challenges to overcome in implementing a carbon border adjustment policy, including whether to peg it to a domestic price on carbon, which sectors to apply the tax, and how to ensure accurate and transparent data on embodied carbon. But one major concern is that the policy could have negative consequences for the economies of developing countries by cutting their export revenue and/or impeding the development of new export-oriented industries. Developing countries might argue that the policy runs counter to the Paris Agreement’s bottom-up, nationally determined contributions, and could push them to cut emissions more than what they pledged. Carbon border adjustment could also run afoul of the Common But Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR) principle that developing countries do not share the same responsibility as developed countries in addressing climate and environmental issues.

Continue reading “Carbon border adjustment: a powerful tool if paired with a just energy transition”

Development Matters
Covid-19, Migration, Policy

COVID-19 crisis: Why we must prioritise mental health of the world’s displaced

By Shaifali Sandhya, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Care Family Consultation

This blog is part of a series on tackling COVID-19 in developing countries. Visit the OECD dedicated page to access the OECD’s data, analysis and recommendations on the health, economic, financial and societal impacts of COVID-19 worldwide.

Deprsession-shutterstock_332939864The modern world is in an unprecedented situation. In the last decade, the global population of the forcibly displaced has swelled to 70.8 million; with the advent of COVID-19, its numbers are expected to soar as a staggering number of refugee and asylum-seeker families find themselves further displaced by fear of disease, food insecurity and by the pressures of collapsing national economies. In many countries displaced communities’ access to labour markets is limited to the informal market, and equally vulnerable will be nations’ shadow workers – garbage workers, prostitutes, domestic help, garment makers, and gig workers. Faced with an economic crisis of cataclysmic proportions, economists and political leaders will be tempted to focus solely on the physical and economic facets of the current crisis.  But if we want to make it through this crisis, that won’t be enough.  In addition to financial and physical wellbeing we will need to recognize and address mental health around the world and at every level of society, especially of its displaced communities. We are at best, unprepared for the worst; for both OECD and developing countries, we need to provide tailored mental health treatment to those who need it in the communities they live in. Continue reading “COVID-19 crisis: Why we must prioritise mental health of the world’s displaced”

Development Matters
Green transition

Can local and sustainable agriculture save biodiversity?

By Marco Maria Cerbo, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. at the Permanent Delegation of Italy to the international organisations in Paris, and Rebecca Graziosi, development co-operation intern

sustainable-agriculture.jpgDuring his speech at the Nobel Banquet, the newly-awarded laureate in Economic Sciences, William D. Nordhaus, declared: “Over the last half-century, the full implications of climate change and its impacts have been illuminated by the intensive research of scientists in different fields. These studies depict an increasingly dire picture of our future under uncontrolled climate change. […] Now, it is up to those who represent us, our elected leaders, to act responsibly to implement durable and effective solutions.”

Data can hardly deny this statement and our planet is now facing an unprecedented emergency. Globally, there is widely-cited evidence that the extinction rate of animal and plant species, as high as 1 000 times the background rate, is increasing rapidly as a result of human activities. In particular, biodiversity in farmland is diminishing, with effects on all of the ecosystem services that are essential to agriculture, including pest control, pollination and climate regulation. Pollution, climate change, over-exploitation of natural resources and changes in land use are the main drivers of biodiversity loss and are clearly related to human activities. Biodiversity is one of the most important legacies we can leave to future generations and its anthropogenic destruction requires urgent action by policy makers and a re-thinking of economic activities. Continue reading “Can local and sustainable agriculture save biodiversity?”

Development Matters
Private Sector

The Human-Centred Business Model: An Innovative Ecosystem for Sustainable Development

LJD

By Federico Bonaglia, Deputy Director, OECD Development Centre, and Marco Nicoli, Special Advisor to the Director of the OECD Development Centre

This blog is part of a special series exploring subjects at the core of the Human-Centred Business Model (HCBM). The HCBM seeks to develop an innovative – human-centred – business model based on a common, holistic and integrated set of economic, social, environmental and ethical rights-based principles.
Read more about the HCBM here, and check out an event about it here

The HCBM project originated in 2015 within the World Bank’s Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development and is now based at the OECD’s Development Centre.

business-sustainability.jpgMany argue that current public policies and business practices are not delivering widespread prosperity for people and the planet (Wolf). During the last ten years, the OECD has gathered a significant body of evidence on the increased inequalities of income and opportunities in many countries. The top 20% of the income distribution earns 9 times more on average than the bottom 20%. The distribution of wealth is even more unequal, with the top 20% keeping half, while the bottom 40% holds only 3%. Corporate profits are at historic highs in many countries: shareholder payouts hit a new record in 2018 as global dividend payments neared the USD 500 billion mark.[1] Simultaneously, median wages and living standards continue to stagnate, productivity growth falters in many countries and whole swathes of citizens are excluded from contributing to, and benefiting from, economic prosperity. Our economic system continues to wreak incredible environmental destruction, the costs of which disproportionately fall on the poor and vulnerable in addition to the planet’s flora and fauna. As United Nations Secretary General Guterres recently stated, “we are losing the race against climate change. Our world is off-track in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals”. Continue reading “The Human-Centred Business Model: An Innovative Ecosystem for Sustainable Development”

Development Matters
Policy

How the public sector can support sustainable business

LJD

By Frederique Mestre, Senior Legal Officer, UNIDROIT

This blog is part of a special series exploring subjects at the core of the Human-Centred Business Model (HCBM). The HCMB seeks to develop an innovative – human-centred – business model
based on a common, holistic and integrated set of economic, social, environmental and ethical rights-based principles. Read more about the HCBM here, and check out an event about it here
The HCBM project originated in 2015 within the World Bank’s Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development and is now based at the OECD’s Development Centre

Development-Finance-shutterstock_524218915How can we ensure economic development while advancing social and environmental objectives? How can we promote sustainable growth – a concept that in today’s real world may sound like an oxymoron? These questions are at the core of governments’ concerns at a time when the planet and humanity are faced with greater and more pressing challenges than ever before.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a milestone amongst the many political and legal instruments forming global standards, policies and procedures adopted by the international community for a more sustainable planet. The SDGs call for action to respond to social and environmental challenges. They outline obligations for governments toward their citizens to promote political and social cohesion and a responsibility for them toward future generations to advance long-term sustainable ecosystems.1

In this context, governments should be responsive to virtuous stakeholder initiatives and support them with enabling policies and appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks. And one such stakeholder that can’t be overlooked is the private sector. Recognised as a major driver of productivity, inclusive economic growth and job creation, the private sector has an essential role to play in contributing to sustainable development.2 Continue reading “How the public sector can support sustainable business”

Development Matters
Policy, SDGs

What does public procurement have to do with sustainability?

LJD

By Professor Barbara De Donno, LUISS Guido Carli, Dr Livia Ventura, LUISS Guido Carli, and Andrea De Maio, EPLO 

This blog is part of a special series exploring subjects at the core of the Human-Centred Business Model (HCBM). The HCMB seeks to develop an innovative – human-centred – business model
based on a common, holistic and integrated set of economic, social, environmental and ethical rights-based principles. Read more about the HCBM here, and check out an event about it here
The HCBM project originated in 2015 within the World Bank’s Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development and is now based at the OECD’s Development Centre

Green-cityThe global financial crisis brought significant economic, social and political changes. It fostered the transition from a shareholders’ capitalism model to a new form of stakeholders’ capitalism, moving from maximising shareholders’ wealth to measuring a company’s social responsibility and environmental impact along with its economic value.

The economic, social and environmental dimensions characterise the “triple bottom line” approach, and are at the core of the inclusive and sustainable economic growth promoted by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and captured, more generally, by the sustainable development concept of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Implementing this ambitious agenda requires strong co-operation amongst governments, the private sector and the civil society. Indeed, the importance of the business sector as a force for social change is, nowadays, undisputed and the role of enterprises in creating equitable and sustainable economic growth has gained traction in recent years. Consequently, governments worldwide have enacted statutes and adopted policies to foster a sustainable business ecosystem. And part of this ecosystem for greater sustainability is different forms of public “preferred procurement.”

Public procurement is when governments and state-owned enterprises purchase goods, services and works. It is a key factor in the economy and represents a strategic policy lever for states to drive innovation and change down through supply chains. Public procurement represents approximately 12% of GDP on average in OECD countries, almost 30% of total government expenditures, and up to 25-30 % of GDP in developing countries. Thus, it has a high impact on a country’s economic development and can play a critical role in promoting the inclusive and sustainable economic growth endorsed by the SDGs. Currently, public procurement – which is generally guided by the principles of fairness, transparency, openness and non-discrimination – is increasingly inspired by several forms of “preferred procurement”, such as “green procurement”, “social procurement” and “sustainable procurement”. Continue reading “What does public procurement have to do with sustainability?”

Development Matters1 Comment
Development in Transition, Policy, Reviving multilateralism

What’s the path to sustainable development?

DEV-IN-TRANS-BANNER

By Mario Pezzini, former Director, OECD Development Centre, and Special Advisor to the OECD Secretary-General on Development

This blog is part of an ongoing series evaluating
various facets of Development in Transition.
Perspectives on Global Development 2019: Rethinking Development Strategies
adds to this discussion

Cover-PGD_2019What’s the path to sustainable development? In this era of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — when all countries face both new challenges and new opportunities for improving the lives of their citizens in inclusive, holistic and environmentally sustainable ways – the question remains as relevant as ever.

Some may think the question was answered in the 2000s when we witnessed the transformation of the global economic geography. Whereas only 12 developing countries in the 1990s managed to double the OECD per-capita growth rates, 83 developing countries managed to do so a decade later. By 2008, developing and emerging economies made up 50% of the global economy for the first time. And the 15-fold surge in South-South trade linkages from 1990 to 2016 and the jump in development finance from USD 3.2 billion in 2003 go USD 15.6 billion in 2012 provided by large emerging economies, notably China, are clear proof points of this new economic geography.

Yet, this upswing in global economic growth masks two underlying issues that we cannot ignore on the road to sustainable development.

Continue reading “What’s the path to sustainable development?”

Development Matters
Development finance, Private Sector

Getting private resources on board for sustainable development

By Royston Braganza, CEO, Grameen Capital India

To learn more about this topic, check out the Global Outlook on Financing for Sustainable Development 2019

Global-Outlook-Cover

GOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL! The frenzied celebration that reverberates across the globe, every time a goal is scored, reflects the seemingly universal passion for football – be it the FIFA World Cup, the Champions League or any other national or local leagues. The game cuts across generations, blurs political boundaries and traverses ethnic divisions. Sadly, some other things do too – hunger, refugee crises, poverty and global warming, to name a few. And yet, everywhere I look, shining examples exist of H.O.P.E.

Holistic approach. Governments, corporations, capital markets, non-governmental organisations need to find integrated solutions. One exceptional example is the catalytic potential of using corporate social responsibility/philanthropic capital to de-risk investment from capital markets. The financial sector can help guide companies to look towards a sustainable future. Grameen Foundation’s Growth Guarantees programme, for example, did precisely that by bringing together donors, international and local banks, microfinance institutions, and poor, vulnerable women borrowers.
Continue reading “Getting private resources on board for sustainable development”

Development Matters
Africa, Asia, Building resilience, Development finance, Infrastructure

Raising capital for intermediary cities

By Jeremy Gorelick, Senior Infrastructure Finance Advisor, USAID’s* WASH-FIN (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene – Finance) Programme, and Joel Moktar, Project Leader, Open Capital Advisors

This blog is part of an ongoing series exploring the intersection between intermediary cities in developing countries and sustainable development

Intermediary cities are the fastest growing cities in the developing world. Often referred to as secondary or second-tier cities, intermediary cities typically have a population of between 50,000 and one million people. They play a fundamental role in connecting both rural and urban areas to basic facilities and services.[1] Driven by population growth and rural-urban migration, intermediary cities worldwide are projected to grow at almost twice the rate of megacities (those with more than 10 million inhabitants) between now and 2030.[2] Of these, the fastest growing cities are in Africa and Asia.[3]

Continue reading “Raising capital for intermediary cities”
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