Summary of the presentations
4 May 2015
Panel 1: the road to the UN Post-2015 summit and key elements of the new global partnership.
Chair: Lutz Ribbe (President of the Sustainable Development Observatory, EESC)
Giovanni Mastrogiacomo, Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development,
European Commission
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The UN Open Working Group proposal of 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets
will likely be the basis for final outcome. The Commission appreciates the OWG report since
it integrates all three dimensions of sustainable development as well as human rights, rule of
law and good governance.
The interlinkage between the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development and
the Post-2015 process is becoming crucial now. A paradigm shift is necessary in the
discussion on means of implementation, as explained in the Commission Communication A
Global Partnership for Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development after 2015, if we
want to achieve the necessary transformational change. The conference in Addis Ababa
should not only discuss ODA, but look at the broader implementation framework, including
the mobilisation of domestic financial resources and non-financial means of implementation
as well as measures ensuring policy coherence. ODA remains to be important. But it needs a
broader framework in order to become effective.
Furthermore, the Post-2015 agenda needs a strong mechanism for monitoring and review with
accountability as an essential element and build upon a multi-stakeholder approach. However,
the concept of accountability is being put into question in the current negotiations.
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After the UN Post-2015 summit the EU needs to adapt its internal policies and international
cooperation.
Maryam Niamir-Fuller, Special Advisor to UNEP Executive Director on Post-2015 and
Sustainable Development Goals
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The EU, its Member States and civil society should keep up the leadership role which they
have shown not only in the Post-2015 process but from the beginning of the debate on
sustainable development.
Three main differences between pre- and post-2015 are related to the issues of inequality,
universality and integration.
We are facing rising inequality, globally and within nations: World’s poorest 20% consume
only 1.5% of its resources world’s richest 20% consume more than 76%.
The world has achieved greater prosperity, but at the expense of environmental degradation,
and social exclusion.
Poverty eradication cannot be irreversibly achieved unless a sustainable development
pathway is adopted. Many countries, especially in developing countries, are primarily
dependent upon natural capital for their growth and people’s livelihoods: natural capital is the
GDP of the poor.
The proposed SDGs are a significant step forward because they address top global challenges,
including key environmental issues, thus complementing other global environmental
instruments and pulling them together to a coherent framework.
Universality is the core of the new Post-2015 agenda. SDGs are based on universal principles,
standards and values. We have to overcome the dualism between developed and developing
countries and remind our interconnectedness and shared destiny. SDGs are universally
applicable because sustainable development is important for all countries.
In UNEP's view an integrated approach to sustainable development needs to address at least
three key principles:
o Leave no one behind and provide a life of dignity for all, through environmentally
sound practices and technologies;
o Live within our means: achieve greater prosperity in an inclusive manner, within the
capacity of the earth’s life support system;
o Leave something behind: Increase natural, social and economic capital to achieve
greater resilience and secure future generations’ livelihoods.
Developed countries should fully commit to the ODA targets established long ago. However,
finance for development is only one of the means of implementation.
The concept of accountability is crucial for the implementation of the Post 2015 agenda.
Accountability is not about blame; it must be guided by national leadership, be universal, and
hold all stakeholders accountable through a mutual approach.
Monitoring needs to embrace innovation and new technologies. Capacity – technical and
financial has to be strengthened. An active role of civil society, "citizens science" and
independent reviews will be important.
We need to communicate and popularize SDGs and make them compelling - after all it is a
voluntary agenda.
Kitty van der Heijden, Director Europe Office, World Resources Institute
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If we want to eradicate poverty in 15 years, we need to go beyond the traditional development
approach and set up an agenda for transformational changes.
Despite of being a global agenda MDGs consisted of seven goals for Global South and only
one for Global North.
Sustainable Development is about balance between economy, equity and ecology. We have
been good on economy, okay on equity and disastrous on ecology. We cannot move ahead
with the agenda as we have it.
I order to get the balance right we will move from one very limited goal on environmental
sustainability in the MDGs to seven more precise and ambitious environmental goals in the
SDGs and the mainstreaming of environment into other goals.
Managing the planet's finite natural resources and a world of infinite demand requires
universal action. Taking into consideration the over-consumption of natural resources in the
Global North the eradication poverty globally does not allow to go on with business as usual.
That is why policy coherence matters so much for sustainable development. We must foster
synergies across economic, social and environmental policy areas, identify trade-offs and
reconcile domestic policy objectives with international obligations. E.g. we have to eliminate
environmental harmful subsidies.
The EU should lead the way by demonstrating how to achieve progress differently. We in the
EU still have a lot to do in getting the balance between economy, equity and environment
right.
As regards the financial means of implementation it has to be ensured that ODA goes to the
least developed countries. However, the investment in development coming from domestic
resources and from foreign direct investment is much larger. We have to make sure that this
money is actually spent to the benefit of the people. It is expected that 90 trillion Dollars will
be invested into infrastructure in the next 15 years, with environmentally disastrous impacts if
this will be done business as usual. Doing it in a low carbon scenario would have only very
few extra costs.
When it comes to accountability we need a shift from traditional accountability concepts
"government to citizens" towards mutual accountability between the different governmental
and non-governmental levels involved.
New available technologies provide a new quality of data and open up new ways of
monitoring with radical transparency for citizens.
Civil society has the biggest role in keeping governments, private sector and all other actors
on the right track. But civil society must be enabled to do that. Is the EU civil society ready to
do that?
2nd panel: the Commission Communication A Global Partnership for Poverty Eradication and
Sustainable Development after 2015.
Chair: Isabel Caño Aguilar, Vice-President of the Sustainable Development Observatory, EESC
Hans Stielstra, Directorate-General for the Environment, European Commission
He presented the Commission Communication “A Global Partnership for Poverty Eradication and
Sustainable Development after 2015” (COM(2015) 44 final), adopted on 5 February 2015.
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For the agenda to be truly transformative, we need a transformative approach to
implementation, thus the development of a new Global Partnership will be a key component
of the agenda. With this Communication the European Commission is setting out its views on
the overarching principles and main components necessary for the implementation of the
post-2015 agenda. The Communication is shared work of different Commission services.
Whereas the previous Communication "A Decent Life for All: From vision to collective
action" (COM (2014) 335) defined the possible scope of the Post-2015 agenda, the recent
Communication focusses on “how are we going to implement this agenda?".
As overarching principles of the Global Partnership the Communication identifies
transparency, shared responsibility, mutual accountability and respective capacity, the human
rights based approach, good governance and rule of law as well as the integration of the three
dimensions of sustainable development.
The Communication sets out a broad understanding of means of implementation, including
o Enabling and conducive policies
o Capacity building
o Domestic public finance
o International public finance
o Trade
o Science, technology and innovation
o The private sector and
o Migration.
Monitoring, accountability and review mechanisms should be based on transparency,
inclusiveness and responsiveness, efficiency and effectiveness. Apart from the financial
questions, accountability is the most sensitive issue in the current inter-governmental
negotiations.
Déirdre de Búrca, Director of Advocacy, World Vision Brussels and Member of the European
Task Force Beyond 2015
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Concord's EU Beyond 2015 Taskforce has welcomes the Commission Communication and
has put forward a more precise written statement. Some critical remarks have to be made:
The Communication has little to say about the desirability of a comprehensive framework, or
whether the EU is willing to use its influence to try to defend the retention of the 17 draft
goals proposed by the UN Open Working Group.
The Communication is missing a clear definition of universality in the sense that all countries
have a responsibility to achieve all of the SDGs and targets both within their own countries as
well as to contributing to progress beyond their borders.
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The Communication also doesn't sufficiently present the way how SDGs and targets will be
put into practice within and by the EU. There is no indication that the EU is envisaging the
structural and systemic reforms in international policies and EU trade, tax, financial and other
policy areas that are needed to re-orient the global economy as well as the economy of the EU
and its Member States in a more sustainable direction.
In particular, the Communication missed out the opportunity of taking a leadership role by
way of challenging the current economic growth paradigm and advocating a new economic
model which tackles the root causes of social inequality and respects planetary boundaries to
natural resource use.
The EU Beyond 2015 Taskforce has called for a new EU Sustainable Development Strategy
to replace the Europe 2020 Strategy with a 2030 time horizon and aligned with SDGs.
Indicators "beyond GDP" have to be integrated in the policy process from the beginning. An
"EU green citizenship" programme should mobilize citizens for the sustainable development
agenda.
The Communication promotes increased international use of Policy Coherence for
Sustainable Development. However, it lacks clear proposals about how the EU will improve
the quality and effectiveness of PCD instruments in its own context.
More detail is needed on how the Global Partnership can be operationalised. The Post-2015
agenda should be a multi-level and multi-stakeholder partnership. However, even if nongovernmental actors are to be involved it has to be very clear that governments are the
principal duty-bearers for the implementation of SDGs and the public must be able to hold
them accountable.
The Communication is lacking concrete proposals how to ensure a strong people's
participation in the implementation of the Post-2015 framework. What we need is a full
participation of people, especially the most marginalized and vulnerable, and their
organisations, through “institutionalized multi-stakeholder engagement”.
Jouni Nissinen, Vice-President, European Environmental Bureau
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Universality, sustainability and human rights are the basic principles the Post-2015
framework must be based on.
A broad concept of human rights should be applied, including economic, social, cultural, civil
and political rights. The Communication does not sufficiently consider the dimension of
sexual and reproductive rights and youth as a group.
Though the Communication acknowledges the need for a paradigm shift towards sustainable
development and social justice, the EU doesn't really take a leadership role in practice. It
seems that the EU is expecting others to act while it is using much more natural resources
than it should.
Solving the issue of financing for development will be crucial for the whole process. The EU
should clearly commit itself to fulfil the ODA target of 0.7 % GDP. Climate funding must
come additionally.
The mobilisation of domestic financial resource must be increased by improving tax
collection in developing countries, strengthening the UN tax committee and broadening the
tax base with a Financial Transaction Tax.
Taxes on corporations have to be applied effectively and corporate social and environmental
responsibility has to be binding.
Maresa Le Roux, Representative of the Belgian Trade Union ACLVB
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From the outset of the Post-2015 process Trade Unions and ITUC advocated a stand-alone
goal on full and productive employment and decent work for all and a goal on universal social
protection.
Promoting human rights and core labour standards, access to decent jobs and social protection
together with a green and low carbon economy transformation belong to the key enabling
conditions of the Post-2015 framework.
The social dialogue must be mentioned as an important enabling factor for the
implementation of the Post-2015 agenda, as a means to improve socio-economic conditions
and a tool to ensure business accountability. Addressing the needs of the “working poor”
constitutes one of the most important priorities to fight inequality.
Labour inspections should be used as a general means for the monitoring of all standards,
conventions and legislation in the production sector.
Trade unions insist on greater transparency and accountability for blending mechanisms in
international public finance. Financial Transaction Taxes can be an additional source of
development financing. Funding for climate should be an additional tool.
Trade agreements must not interfere with national policy tools aiming at structural economic
transformation, generating state income and creating decent work. Investment treaties and
agreements should guarantee the enforceability of national and international labour laws and
labour standards.
Business compliance to binding social and environmental standards must be granted if we
want to achieve sustainable development.
Trade Unions call for an inclusive and multi-stakeholder global partnership based on binding
commitments for all development actors. The ILO framework is a ‘living’ example on how
accountability mechanisms can work at global level through to the national level.
Constanza Martinez, Global Policy Unit, International Union for Conservation of Nature
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The Post-2015 Global Partnership should build upon successful existing partnerships. It also
has to tackle remaining challenges, such as
o Integration: the need for more cross-sectoral (trans-disciplinary) partnerships –
integration;
o no substitution: the different nature of the partnerships members must remain evident
and accountable accordingly;
o monitoring and evaluation: mechanisms of mutual accountability are hard to design ;
o local-to-global-to-local: more efficient partnerships with governments and NGOs at
global level;
o crowding the space: uncoordinated proliferation competing for mandate and funds.
SDGs must integrate the different dimensions of sustainable development
There is a need for a stand-alone goal recognizing the need to protect biodiversity and
ecosystem services as essential solutions from nature.
SDGs need to build on existing relevant commitments.
SDGs should include a goal addressing governance as enabling mechanism for sustainable
development.
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Christophe Yvetot, Head of UNIDO Liaison Office to the European Union
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The Commission's Communication addresses important elements for Post-2015 Global
Partnership and means of implementation, including in particular a stronger role of the private
sector as a driver for transformation and growth.
However, additionally the dynamics of industrialisation must be considered as a crucial factor
for reducing poverty and inequality. Through its strong spill over potential, the dynamic
provoked by the growth in manufacturing value added (MVA) drives manufacturing related
services (transports, communication, marketing, legal, research and innovation, ITC, etc.) as
well as other sectors (ex. food related industries: agricultural machinery, packaging). To a
large extent the poverty reduction observed in the last 15 years is a consequence of industrial
development in Asia.
Industrialization and re-industrialization are universal goals that both developing and
industrialized countries have re-established as major priorities as a response to the global
crisis. Human development is found to be strongly correlated with the level of a country’s
industrialization.
A new model of “Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization” (ISID) is the way to ensure the
creation of decent work and eradication poverty while also addressing environmental
sustainability and climate change.
Therefore, ISID and Industrial Cooperation should be included as a means of implementation
for the Conference on Financing for Development in July, Addis Ababa.
Smart industrial policies should promote ISID. This process have to be done through a joint
effort of all the actors, private, public and international institutions based on policy dialogue
and building strong partnerships at all levels.
Development finance as well investment should focus on industrialization as the most
effective multiplier of public and private resources to achieve economic, social and
environmental impact.
Jonas Jonsson, (Chair of the United Nations Working Party of the Council of the EU, European
External Action Service (EEAS))
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The Council of the European Union has defined its position on a transformative Post-2015
agenda in its conclusions from 16 December 2014. Based on this and taking into
consideration the Commission Communication the Council will adopt further conclusions, in
particular on Finance for Development and the new Global Partnership by end May 2015.
The challenge we have to focus is how to make the results of the Post-2015 process work in a
way that is cohesive and comprehensive.
We need a very solid agreement in the 3rd International Conference on Finance for
Development in order to achieve a success on the UN Post-2015 summit.
More efforts have to be put into the communication and promotion of the Post-2015 agenda in
an understandable way taking into consideration the six essential elements for delivering the
SDGs outlined in the UN General Secretary's synthesis report.
The EU should support the UN with the Post-2015 agenda through its outreach to other world
regions.