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In a speech delivered at the PAGE Ministerial Conference in Berlin on March 27, 2017, IISD President and CEO Scott Vaughan critiques current trade and investment models, specifically focusing on the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in sustainable development.

The Adaptive Watershed is a guide for a three-day training program developed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). It is designed for local decision-makers in land and water management, climate adaptation, and gender equity to build capacity for inclusive, ecosystem-based, and adaptive watershed management.

This briefing from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) explores how citizen science—the collaboration between scientists and volunteers to answer real-world questions—can support the implementation, monitoring, and definition of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It details the different types of citizen science projects, their benefits for data collection and public engagement, and strategies to overcome challenges regarding data quality and statistical validity.

This policy brief explores how the Planetary Boundaries framework can be used to define the 'global level of ambition' for the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It argues that by downscaling global environmental limits to national or regional levels and combining them with consumption-based accounting, countries can better implement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 12 on Sustainable Consumption and Production.

This discussion brief from the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the interactions between Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) and Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality). Based on a literature review of 27 peer-reviewed articles, the brief identifies how gender inequality contributes to food insecurity and argues that gender equality is a primary determinant of food security. It highlights the need for integrated policy-making and gender-differentiated data to ensure that efforts to end hunger do not leave women and girls behind.

This policy brief summarizes the findings and recommendations from a regional meeting held in Colombia in September 2017, focused on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America. The document identifies key challenges such as institutional vulnerability to government changes, sectoral silos, and limited local ownership, while highlighting best practices in harmonization, multi-stakeholder cooperation, and budgetary monitoring across several Latin American countries.

This briefing note by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) examines the impacts of large-scale private agricultural investments on local livelihoods, water resources, land tenure, and gender equality. It argues that while such investments can create employment and market opportunities, ill-designed contracts often lead to environmental degradation, water scarcity, and the marginalization of rural communities, particularly women. The document advocates for an integrated approach to planning, utilizing a 'social tenure model' and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ensure sustainability and inclusivity.

A statement by Minister Per Bolund and Johan Kuylenstierna arguing for a systemic 'reboot' of the finance sector to align investments with the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals, noting that green finance currently represents a very small fraction of global bonds and institutional holdings.

This World Resources Institute working paper analyzes the alignment between the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted under the Paris Agreement and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. By mapping climate actions across 92 INDCs, the authors demonstrate that climate policies often generate mutual benefits for sustainable development, though these synergies are frequently unrecognized or uncoordinated at the national level due to institutional silos.

This briefing by the World Resources Institute argues that the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement represent a single project of systemic societal change. It contends that while climate and development agendas are conceptually fusing, national implementation remains fragmented by bureaucratic silos. The document outlines six key challenges—vision, integrated planning, institutional coherence, inclusive governance, finance, and monitoring—that countries must address to translate international commitments into integrated national action.

This document is a reproduction of a lecture delivered by Simon Maxwell, Executive Chairman of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), at the Centre for Policy Dialogue in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in January 2016. The lecture explores whether a pathway exists to simultaneously eradicate poverty and eliminate emissions, arguing that the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement necessitate a fundamental economic and social transformation.

This policy brief describes the outcomes of two workshops held during the 2016 SIPRI Forum on Security and Development. The workshops used two contrasting climate scenarios—Radical Emissions Reduction (RER) and High-end Climate Change (HCC)—to analyze risks to security, development, and the implementation of four specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): food security (SDG 2), gender equality (SDG 5), clean energy (SDG 7), and inequality (SDG 10).

A statement by the Stockholm Environment Institute urging immediate action on climate pledges and the rapid ratification of the Paris Agreement to ensure early entry into force.

This policy brief by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) examines the follow-up and review mechanisms for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It focuses on the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) as the central coordinating body, proposing a 'bottom-up' approach to accountability where information and peer learning drive policy change. The authors suggest improving the HLPF's effectiveness through better synthesis of vast reporting streams, the use of strategic annual themes to ensure holistic review, and the strengthening of national and regional review processes.

In a 2016 address, SAIIA National Chairman Fred T Phaswana discusses the intersection of South Africa's domestic political and economic crises with global instability. He highlights the erosion of South Africa's international leadership due to internal corruption and poor growth, while contrasting these failures with the success of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REI4P) and global multilateral agreements on climate and development.

This research paper analyzes the risks facing the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) in its role of overseeing Agenda 2030, arguing that it may repeat the failures of the now-defunct Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) due to its structural subordination to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The author suggests that the HLPF's success depends on meticulously preparing debates and streamlining the vast flow of national, regional, and intergovernmental reporting to avoid being overwhelmed by undigested information.

The Green Economy Barometer 2016, published by the Green Economy Coalition (GEC), assesses the global transition toward green and fair economies. The report assigns a score of 4 out of 10 to the transition, noting that while international policy architecture, renewable energy investment, and corporate awareness of natural capital risks have improved, the transition lacks the depth and breadth to address extreme poverty, the informal economy, and systemic structural reform.

This report, published in November 2015 by Climate Focus and partners, establishes an assessment framework and provides an initial progress report on the ten goals of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF). It evaluates the status of global efforts to halt natural forest loss, restore degraded lands, and improve forest governance one year after the NYDF's September 2014 signing.

This policy brief, published by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) in July 2015, examines the relationship between the ambition level of the 2015 global climate agreement and the ability of countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Based on research by HR Wallingford and Metroeconomica, the brief argues that a high-ambition agreement—limiting global warming to 2°C—is essential for eradicating extreme poverty and ensuring sustainable development, whereas a low-ambition agreement would significantly undermine these goals, particularly in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America.

This policy brief by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) examines the interdependence between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the global climate agreement negotiated at COP21. It argues that a high-ambition climate deal is necessary to prevent the undermining of goals related to poverty eradication, gender equality, and access to energy and water.