Harnessing science to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals

The document summarizes insights from the first Science Day, arguing that centering scientific evidence, local knowledge, and transdisciplinary research is essential to overcome stalled progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It recommends that governments move beyond goal-setting to focus on ground-level outcomes, address policy incoherence and trade-offs, and utilize systemic framing to navigate simultaneous global crises.

• To accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the world must center the role of science to identify transformation pathways and strengthen the science-policy interface to turn scientific evidence into actionable knowledge for policymakers.
• The current scientific model needs to be rebalanced by prioritizing transdisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and mission-oriented research, while moving away from "business-as-usual" funding approaches to foster inclusive sustainability science.
• Governments should utilize systemic framing and tools like scenario-analysis to understand the interconnected nature of crises and identify both synergies and trade-offs, specifically between climate and development goals.
• There is a critical need for a "global transformation road map" to integrate various global frameworks—including the Paris Agreement, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and the Sendai Framework—to address systemic bottlenecks.
• Effective SDG implementation requires shifting focus from setting targets to achieving on-the-ground outcomes by tackling root causes through changes in regulations, funding allocation, and independent evaluation.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2023). Harnessing science to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. https://www.sei.org/perspectives/harnessing-science-for-the-sdgs/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Harnessing science to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. 2023. https://www.sei.org/perspectives/harnessing-science-for-the-sdgs/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Harnessing science to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals |date=14 September 2023 |url=https://www.sei.org/perspectives/harnessing-science-for-the-sdgs/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2023harnessing, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Harnessing science to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals}}, publisher = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2023}, month = sep, url = {https://www.sei.org/perspectives/harnessing-science-for-the-sdgs/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }