The Earth System Governance Project and Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future are very pleased to announce that they have joined forces in a global partnership to jointly work towards better governance for global sustainability.

The aim of the new partnership is to strengthen understanding of transformative governance for sustainability through integrating scientific research and multi-stakeholder advocacy.

The Partnership will strengthen the evidence base of the multi-stakeholder processes facilitated by Stakeholder Forum, and the impact of the novel policy solutions that are developed by researchers from the Earth System Governance Project. The partnership will systematically connect scientists and stakeholders who work on sustainable development policy analysis, and allow for increased and more effective engagement of both communities with international negotiations and national policy implementation.

Farooq Ullah is standing down from his post as Executive Director of Stakeholder Forum (SF) on December 31, 2016.

 In a letter to the Board, he said that he had been proud to lead the work of SF though the past four years of intense international activity on sustainable development. Stakeholders of all kinds had been deeply and constructively engaged with the creation of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - and SF had played a significant part in promoting and supporting that engagement at international, regional and national levels. However, as the task of implementing the SDGs now falls more to the national level Farooq felt that it was an appropriate time for him to stand down from SF and to focus his own efforts more at the national level through the new UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD) and in other ways.

It is widely accepted that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) require implementation that is both universal and integrated; every country must pursue policies which coherently span the economic, environmental and social aspects of the sustainable development agenda to ensure the best results.

This report sheds light for policymakers on how this can be achieved, with the simultaneous focus on the twelfth SDG, Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) and its related policies within the EU context.

A joint research piece by Stakeholder Forum, Bioregional and Newcastle University and funded by Government of Finland, the project follows from Stakeholder Forum’s earlier Universality report which identified SCP as the biggest transformational challenge amongst the SDGs for the developed world, and this is why we chose SDG 12 as our focal point in the present work. The EU was selected as the main test bed in the previous report, and has again been the subject of focus in this current one.

Universal Sustainable Development Goals

Understanding the Transformational Challenge for Developed Countries

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are intended to be universal in the sense of embodying a universally shared common global vision of progress towards a safe, just and sustainable space for all human beings to thrive on the planet. They reflect the moral principles that no-one and no country should be left behind, and that everyone and every country should be regarded as having a common responsibility for playing their part in delivering the global vision. In general terms, all of the goals have therefore been conceived as applying both as ambitions and as challenges to all countries. All of the goals and targets contain important messages and challenges for developed and developing countries alike.

In a study commissioned by the German Council for Sustainable Development, Stakeholder Forum has examined integration in the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and put forward stakeholder proposals which could be used to improve the balance of the three dimensions of sustainable development within the goals.

Earlier this year, Stakeholder Forum and 11 European partners launched the INSIGHT_E project, which serves as an energy think tank for the European Commission. The multi-disciplinary think tank consists of experts from the energy sector, including top researchers, engineers, trade practitioners, and, economic, environmental and legal advisers. Together this team, provides high quality advice and impact assessments on key topics related to European based energy policy-making.

As a first communications output, the think tank has produced the below newsletter which provides more information about the project, a report on EU natural gas security and an overview of forthcoming activities:

21-22 June, Nairobi, Kenya, Major Groups and other Stakeholders convened to discuss the role, remit and objectives of the first United Nations Environment Assembly of the UN Environement Programme. In particular, participants reviewed the following items: