A new product from the Global Opportunities for SDGs (GO4SDGs) initiative offers policymakers, industry players and civil society a range of tools to help support countries accelerate the transition to inclusive green economies and sustainable living.
The initiative’s ’menu of services’, which includes green fiscal policy assessments and instruments designed to help small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), was recently introduced at a virtual side event – Recovering better: Global opportunities for jumpstarting the real economy – as part of the annual High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
The event, supported by the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership (GGKP), featured panelists from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), SEED, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and World Economic Forum, who highlighted priorities in accelerating and raising ambition for greening recovery plans, showcased examples of how real economy actors are helping to create jobs, and demonstrated the critical role of SMEs in linking economic recovery to the objectives of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Stephan Contius, Germany’s Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda, at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, said: “We have to make sure that the very capital for recovery measures is invested wisely, respecting environmental boundaries and does not hamper economic growth.”
The menu of services offers a glimpse of what partners of the GO4SDGs can bring to the table to support countries kick-start their economies as part of the green recovery from COVID-19, consisting of collective knowledge and efforts of leading global initiatives. The menu is categorized into three key areas: business innovation, especially for SMEs; sustainable lifestyles and youth; and transformative government policy.
The services address a number of critical issues around the green economy transition, including how policymakers, SMEs and youth can work together to accelerate the sustainable recovery post-COVID-19, what skills are needed for today’s youth and how they can access them, and the need to move from a linear to circular model for resource use.
The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted supply chains, causing hundreds of millions job losses that shrunk global economy by 3% this year. Particularly hard-hit have been millions of SMEs.
“We must keep our focus on real economy actors, including small and medium-sized enterprises,” Joyce Msuya, Deputy Executive Director of UNEP, stressing that SMEs need to be part of any effective recovery.
Lewis Akenji, Executive Director of SEED, however, warned that local actors are at risk of being overlooked in the COVID-19 recovery. “SMEs do a lot of good work in achieving the SDGs, but are not always visible,” he said. “We aim to elevate their visibility among governments and policymakers,” adding that the role of SMEs is crucial for ensuring stronger social protection and resilience in communities.
Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), added that for working people, the SDGs and Paris Agreement could be the foundation of a new social contract, one that departed from austerity and moved toward equity and resilience.
The GO4SDGs initiative was launched in September 2019 to accelerate the shift to more inclusive green economies and sustainable production and consumption patterns, by facilitating regional dialogue and exchange among practitioners on best practices for replicating and upscaling. Relevant stakeholders at the regional and national level can leverage the GO4SDGs’ menu of services in order to create a scaling effect as countries seek to orient their recovery packages to the real economy.
“It is important that the international communities go towards the same direction and leverage the knowledge and expertise that has been accumulated up until now, and they replicate it worldwide,” said Contius. “It's about scaling up positive experiences.”