Coordinators: Oriol Costa (UAB-IBEI) and Jacint Jordana (UPF-IBEI)

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) have had a sizeable influence in the agenda and the discourses of global governance. References to SDGs can be found in a wide range of international negotiations and institutions, from climate change to food security, from human rights to health. They have also been endorsed at all the other levels of policy making –by the European Union, national governments, and local authorities. In moments of deep polarization and politicization of international and domestic politics, SDGs have emerged as a broadly consensual project across continents, topics and scales. They also represent an approach to governance based on the setting of goals widely accepted as important and legitimate by a multiplicity of stakeholders. It is shared goals, not precisely crafted legal obligations, that are expected to drive policy changes, and their traction depends precisely on their consensual character. And since such goals by-pass the language of state-centric international law, also non-governmental actors can embrace them –be that NGOs, companies, or universities.

Still, research on the dynamic of SDG is still emerging, and many questions remain open as to existing difficulties, or to its performance. This webinar series presents three roundtables that will look at SDGs as a vantage point to understand them as a new mode of global governance, and possibly learn lessons to improve or reform it. Each roundtable is composed of four leading scholars to discuss a particular dimension of SDG strategy: leadership, instruments, and multilevel governance. The perspective of global cities will be emphasized in the webinars, also considering their participation in global governance processes. The panels are organized during two days, each one having 75 min. of duration maximum. Webinars are open to the public, and local scholars are invited to moderate each session.

PROGRAMME

18 March · 15:00 (Central European Time, CET)

Panel I. Who is leading the global governance of SDGs?
Moderator: Charles Roger (IBEI)

• Benedicte Bull (University of Oslo)
• Axel Marx (Leuven Centre for Global Governance, Leuven University)
• Marianne Beisheim (SWP)

Language: English

▶️ Video available here (Panel I)

18 March · 16:30h (CET)

Panel II. Instruments of Global Governance: expertise, meta-governance, and goal-setting
Moderator: Oriol Costa (UAB-IBEI)

• Frank Biermann (Utrecht University)
• Anne Ellersiek (Science Platform Sustainability 2030)
• Louis Meuleman (Vice chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration - CEPA)

Language: English

▶️ Video available here (Panel II)

19 March · 16:00 (CET)

Panel III. Governança multinivell i Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible: el paper de les autoritats locals
Moderadora: Andrea Bianculli (IBEI)

• Andrea Noferini (UPF i IBEI)
• Agustí Fernández de Losada (CIDOB)
• Robert Kissack (IBEI)
• Arnau Queralt (Consell Assessor per al Desenvolupament Sostenible)
• Miquel Rodríguez (Ajuntament de Barcelona)

Language: Catalan/Spanish

19 March · 17:30 (CET)

Closing remarks
Laia Bonet (Barcelona Deputy Mayor, 2030 Agenda, Digital Transition, Sports and Territorial and Metropolitan Coordination)

▶️ Video available here (Panel III and closing remarks)