To accelerate Science Driven sustainable Blue Growth and the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) in the Euro-Asian Seas and beyond, SDSN Greece, SDSN Black Sea and SDSN Mediterranean via SDSN Europe established the Sustainable Euro-Asian Seas (SEAs) Initiative. SEAs Initiative will build on research and demonstration projects, developed by a consortium and its collaborators world-wide, and will create an SDSN high-level working group, which will work on the Science-Policy interface related to Blue Growth, as well as on producing an SDSN SEAs annual report.
The Sustainable Development Report (SDR) reviews progress made each year on the Sustainable Development Goals since their adoption by the 193 UN Member States in 2015. At the halfway mark to 2030, the Sustainable Development Report 2023 takes stock of progress made and discusses priorities to restore and accelerate SDG progress.
The Europe Sustainable Development Report 2023/24 (ESDR), produced by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) in collaboration with SDSN Europe and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), reveals that decisive actions must be taken in the European Union (EU) to avoid environmental and social “tipping points” and to maintain the promise of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda and the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement.
The fifth edition of the ESDR, which includes the SDG Index and Dashboards, tracks progress on the SDGs of the EU, its Member States, and partner countries in Europe. The report highlights that at the current rate, a third of the SDG targets will not be achieved by the EU by 2030, with significant differences across European countries; these range from a quarter in Northern and Western Europe to around half in Southern Europe and Central and Eastern Europe on average. In particular, the report underlines stagnation and reversal in progress in many European countries on social targets with growing issues around access to and quality of services for all, as well as poverty and material deprivation driven at least partly by multiple crises since 2020. Globally, the international financial architecture is failing to channel global savings to SDG investments at the needed pace and scale which leads to a reversal in SDG progress in many parts of the world, especially in the poorest and most vulnerable countries.
This year’s report provides essential contributions for the EU to strengthen its SDG leadership at home and internationally ahead of the June 2024 European elections and the Summit of the Future convened by the UN Secretary-General in September 2024.
SDSN Europe has gathered a Senior Working Group, consisting of top-level academics and stakeholders, to mobilize expertise for the successful implementation of this transformative regulatory framework. SDSN Europe is ideally placed to provide evidence-based advice to European policy-makers, through the expertise and scientific knowledge of ten networks and over 360 member organisations across the continent.
SDSN’s European Green Deal Senior Working Group is led by Prof. Jeffrey Sachs and Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, both world-renowned economists and global leaders in sustainable development. To support the transformations in Europe towards the future we want, they have gathered a group of leading experts in the fields of sustainable development, environmental economics, green finance, corporate social responsibility and transformative policies. Together they contribute to the following objectives:
The Lancet COVID-19 Commission has released their first official statement, to mark the occasion of the opening of the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly on Sept 15, 2020.
Prof. Phoebe Koundouri is one of the Commissioners of the Lancet Commission on COVID-19.
The Statement highlights ten priority actions for the coming months:
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes 169 linked targets and 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), was endorsed by the UN in 2015. The goal of all 193 UN members is to achieve sustainable development in all three of its dimensions—economic, social, and environmental—in a way that is integrated and well-balanced. The Sustainable Development Goals Index and Dashboards (SDR) were created in 2016 to assist nations and decision-makers in tracking their advancement towards accomplishing the SDGs. Global and national implementation of the SDGs requires non-state actors – including companies, cities, regions, financial and educational institutions – to take rigorous and immediate action.
The AE4RIA Metrix provides cutting-edge instruments and approaches that make use of models and apps to quantify the impact of players from all quadruple helix segments on the SDGs at multiple levels: regional, urban, corporate, institutions (including Academic and Financial Institutions). Our Innovative tools integrate SDG measurement models into the corporate sustainability reporting framework (ESG criteria and corporate sustainability report), compatible and defined based on the new European Directives like the EU Taxonomy and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CRSD).
SDSN Greece in collaboration with ReSEES laboratory, AUEB intends to record the contribution of the Athens University of Economics and Business to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under four pillars : Education, Research, Infrastructure and Governance and Outreach. The Study will compile the results from the dissertations of twelve MSc and BSc AUEB students which participate in the project which is coordinated by Prof. Phoebe Koundouri and Dr. Conrad Landis.
The report is expected to be completed by late 2024.
The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Shipping and Ports was launched at the COP25 in December 2019 in Madrid, Spain. This initiative aims at bringing together researchers and technology developers, shipbuilders, shipowners, ports, policymakers and politicians, from around the globe, to work on technological and policy innovations seeking net-zero emissions in the maritime sector by 2050. The Initiative will be composed of a monthly participatory workshop, seeking to co-design a sustainable future vision and to identify technological solutions and financing tools that can support the identified pathways towards the future vision. The methodology followed by SDSN Greece, which has a more than 10-year experience on Living Labs and roundtables organisation, is Systems Innovation approach.
The Third Sustainability Summit, held in Athens, Greece on 16th-17th October 2019, gave key stakeholders the chance to initiate preliminary discussions on this issue. After this opening step, the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Shipping and Ports was launched at the COP25 in December 2019 in Madrid, Spain.
This Initiative will seek to address innovative solutions through a global dialogue on:
Τhe Greek Government, deeply concerned about this issue, organized an international Scientific Conference, in Athens (Zappeion, 21-22 June 2019), with the participation of more than 300 world-renowned scientists and state representatives from over 40 countries. The Conference’s unanimously adopted Conclusions were subsequently circulated as an official document of the UN General Assembly. They also formed the basis of the Greek proposal “Addressing climate change impacts on cultural and natural heritage”, which was launched, with the supporting partnership of UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization, during the UN Climate Action Summit (September 2019). In addition, a number of NGOs and organisations have also expressed their support (ICOMOS, SDSN, Europa Nostra). So far, more than 70 UN member states are committed to the Greek proposal as well as WMO, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The UN Secretary General has included the Greek initiative in his “Report on the 2019 Climate Action Summit and the Way Forward in 2020” (11 Dec 2019) among the most ambitious initiatives that were presented at the Climate Action Summit. The next steps as presented in the abovementioned report of this initiative encompass, inter alia, beyond outreach, the continuation of the work towards designing, developing and implementing plans and programmes to help mitigate the effects of climate change on cultural and natural heritage as well as the formation of a follow-up committee and the planning of a High Level Meeting on the initiative. This meeting that Greece was planning to host in 2020, due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic that all countries are currently facing, has been rescheduled and will be conveyed once the international conditions will permit. Furthermore, the proposal and its follow up was presented by Greece with the participation of UNESCO and the WMO, at a side event in the framework of UNFCCC COP25, in Madrid, in December 2019. In this event, the Greek Minister of Environment has proposed the creation of a follow-up flexible mechanism. Prof. Phoebe Koundouri is member of the Scientific Committee of the Initiative which President is Prof. Christos Zerefos, Head, Research Center for Climatology, Academy of Athens, Greece. Prof. Andreas Papandreou is member of the Advisory Board.
An UN SDSN Global Climate Hub and RESEES Laboratory, Athens University of Economics and Business initiative aiming to accelerate the integration of the ecosystem valuation in decision making and support the design of more meaningful Hybrid Metrics. The project includes the determination of the total economic value of natural capital in the European Union, and the development of an Ecosystems Valuation Database, an open access tool providing location specific valuation and reliable estimates/predictions for regions under considerations. under construction.
Professional program in ESG, SDGs and Sustainable Finance, from the Athens University of Economics and Business, in collaboration with PwC Greece, under the auspices of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN).
It brings along the scientific eminence of academic staff of the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB), the business experience and know-how of the leading consulting company in Greece with a robust and multifaceted record focusing on Sustainable Development, PwC Greece, as well as the world-wide leading academic network of Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aephoria (AE4RIA) and ReSEES Laboratory at AUEB, and the largest international university network (approximately 1800 university institutions worldwide) working on Sustainable development solution under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN).
Governments, regulators and standards setters around the world have reacted to the increased urgency for business and finance to tackle climate change, biodiversity collapse and general unsustainable growth practices, by introducing a numerous regulations and standards that the business community must comply with. Mandatory reporting creates structure and detail around what companies must report however, the current flux in the market is leaving many practitioners with a set of new challenges in creating coherent and consistent reporting to fit the needs of their stakeholders.
The course provides all the necessary knowledge and tools for the holistic understanding of the context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the incorporation of the Environmental, Social and Governance criteria (ESG) and Sustainable Finance principles in daily business conduct.
Sustainable Solutions at Times of Transition (SuST) | International Symposium and Workshops, 14-17 July 2022, Nisyros Island, Greece
Ecologically destructive human practices that bring about climate change, have increased the risk of extreme weather events, food system failures, biodiversity loss, social inequalities, and geopolitical instability. As we struggle to face the ecological crisis and collapse in the time of the Anthropocene, environmental and social sustainable practices have become a vital issue for the survival of humanity.
Sustainability is related to systemic health and resilience at different scales, from local to regional and global. It requires a broader view of the importance of various capitals, their coexistence and mutual symbiosis. It requires “Closing the loop” of product lifecycles through greater recycling and re-use, as well as using resources in a sustainable way from production and consumption to waste management. Sustainable development is prompting a re-assessment of innovation and technological change that have a great impact on the environmental, social and economic aspects of life in our planet. Achieving sustainability will require fundamental, transformative and cross-cutting change and sustainable proposals, at all levels.
The major objective of the symposium was to promote the scientific dialogue supporting the sustainable management and usage of natural resources and the shift in the use of renewable resources with best paradigms, practices and policies at the local, Mediterranean, European and global scales. This can be achieved by addressing the technical, socio-economic, ecological and sustainability dimensions in the context of “Accelerating the Transition to Equitable, Sustainable, Post-Fossil Carbon Societies!”.
The goal was to organize an international forum to bring together experts, young researchers, engineers and practitioners globally, to propose sustainable solutions for the environmental challenges of ‘’vulnerable communities” in the context of climate change and environmental degradation, and the need for integrating resilience and equity into all levels of society to reduce vulnerabilities and social upheavals.
