Global Sustainable Development Report 2023 Consultation Workshop

Latin America and the Caribbean Regional

The Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) was originally mandated by the United Nations Member States in the outcome document of the 2012 “Rio +20” conference on sustainable development, “The Future We Want”. Three years later, as part of the 2030 Agenda, Member States reaffirmed the importance of the GSDR and requested in 2016 that it would be written by an independent group of
scientists (IGS). The first report was published in 2019. The next report is scheduled for release in September 2023. The IGS, appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General, consists of 15 leading experts from the

natural and social sciences, representing developed and developing countries. The current group is co- chaired by Prof. Imme Scholz of Germany and Prof. J. Jaime Miranda of Peru.

As requested by Member States, the GSDR aims to strengthen the science-policy interface and to provide evidence-based guidance on global sustainable development issues and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The report is an important instrument to inform the deliberations at the quadrennial Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit (next held in September 2023), where it is presented to
heads of state, who take stock on the progress towards the 2030 Agenda. The 2023 report will be launched at the half-way point on the 2030 Agenda when decision-makers will be looking for practical solutions that can accelerate progress.

The 2023 GSDR will incorporate a broad range of existing scholarship on SDG implementation. It will build on the 2019 GSDR which identified four levers for change as well as adding a fifth lever on capacities:

• Governance
• Economy and finance,
• Individual and collective action
• Science and technology
• Capacities

It will also build from the six entry points identified in the 2019 GSDR where interlinkages among the SDGs are especially strong such that interventions can address many goals and targets:

• Strengthening human wellbeing and capabilities
• Shifting toward sustainable and just economies
• Building sustainable food systems and healthy nutrition patterns
• Achieving energy decarbonization with universal access to energy
• Promoting sustainable urban and peri-urban development
• Securing the global environmental commons

For the 2023 GSDR, the IGS will expand on the 2019 report with a focus on accelerating action and overcoming impediments that stand in the way of making the levers work together toward transformation through the entry points. Acceleration and enabling transformations is critical as the world struggles to rebuild in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. The time dynamics of transformation and implementation are explicitly addressed — moving from emergence toward acceleration and finally to stabilization. The focus will be on identifying concrete recommendations and tools grounded in evidence for accelerating the implementation of the SDGs and on making the field of science more supportive to this acceleration.