Prof. Lena Partzsch participated in the SDG Task Force Meeting on September 28 and the GlobalGoals Conference on September 29/30, 2024 in Utrecht. The events served as an important academic stepping-stone for the UN Future Summit.

The conference provided a platform for academics to share their research findings and for other stakeholders to voice their ideas on the future of the SDGs and global sustainability governance. In addition, GlobalGoals2024 compiled key recommendations for the UN Future Summit.

Prof. Partzsch presented a paper by her and co-author Nike Stenzel entitled “Environmental Sustainability in the Local Implementation of Agenda 2030”.

Abstract: Humans are dramatically accelerating global environmental change. While some scholars argue that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) mask ongoing contestation over sustainable development (e.g., Bengtsson et al, 2018; Sachs, 2017), others see them as an example of development approaches being increasingly ‘in tune with the biosphere, of reconnecting development to the biosphere preconditions’ (Folke et al, 2016: 5). In particular, countries with a high income in terms of GDP per capita are expected to prioritize environmental over economic goals at the stage of implementation. We use Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) to assess the importance of the environment in the implementation of the global goals at the local level. More and more municipalities in Europe and around the world use this new form of local reporting. The paper begins with a categorization of the environmental goals of the 2030 Agenda and the importance of local action for their implementation. Against the backdrop of the scholarly controversy on what defines environmental sustainability, the paper then assesses the full sample of European VLRs to identify the priorities of municipalities in their implementation. We conclude that the 67 Conference Programme | GLOBALGOALS2024 environment takes a back seat to social and, above all, economic goals, but at the same time we identify a range of possible actions at the local level.