Responsible Consumption and Production

Increasing risk when combined with inadequate resilient investment poses a major threat to sustainable development.

Disasters are happening more frequently and exacting a greater toll on communities. Loss of life habitat loss of infrastructure and loss of livelihoods are eroding past development gains. In poorer nations – particularly LDCs SIDS and LLDCs – a single disaster event can have devastating consequences for the national economy.

Digital platforms provide a variety of services such as marketplaces social networking search engines and payment systems. Their business model relies on data and data monetization for growth. These are multi-sided oligopolistic or monopolistic markets characterized by network effects high economies of scale and scope and increasing returns to scale which together raise barriers for new entry. In digital markets platforms compete for the market and not in the market. These features together with control over user data confer significant market power to incumbent platforms in their respective markets. This has raised concerns about competition and led the competition lawyers and economists reflect on ways to restore the lost competition in digital markets. This paper suggests adapting competition law tools and analysis to the realities of this new business model; reforming merger control regimes; focusing not only on free but also fair competition in digital markets; adopting regulatory measures such data openness and portability interoperability between online platforms. The paper also questions the relevance of consumer welfare standard based on price effects and efficiency to the new business model of online platforms. It suggests adopting a broader framework including choice quality privacy innovation future competition and effective competition structure and competitive process in competition law enforcement.

This paper presents a comparative study of selected global gender inequality indices: The Global Gender Gap Index (GGI); the Gender Inequality Index (GII); and the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI). A Principal Component Analysis approach is used to identify the most important factors or dimensions such as health social conditions and education economic and labour participation and political empowerment that impact on gender and drive gender inequality. These factors are compared with the Sustainable Development Goal targets to assess how well they align. The findings show that while economic participation and empowerment are significant factors of gender equality they are not fully incorporated into gender equality indices. In this context the paper also discusses the absence of international trade a key driver of economic development from the gender equality measures and makes some tentative recommendations for how this lacuna might be addressed.

This study analyses to which extent the classification of countries as developing corresponds with their actual development level. Development status classification schemes (DSCSs) differ across international organizations yielding heterogeneous outcomes. In the literature different concepts of a developing country focus on different indicators of development levels. All analysed indicators have a highly significant effect on the countries' probability to be classified as developing and discerning developing countries from others leads to a reduction of heterogeneity with all DSCSs for most indicators. Schemes which nominate countries for classes correspond mainly with concepts focusing on difficult starting points or an early stage in systemic transition. Schemes which classify countries based on specified criteria typically reflect a welfare-based concept. The hypothesis of a weakening correspondence over the last four decades cannot be confirmed for all indicators.

The United Kingdom left the European Union in January 2020. During a transition period that lasts until the end of 2020 the European Union and the United Kingdom aim to determine their future trade relations. In this Research Paper we explore quantitatively the role of non-tariff measures (NTMs) including regulatory measures such as sanitary and technical requirements in shaping the United Kingdom's future trade relations with the European Union and the impact on developing countries. We simulate the possible impacts of Brexit using a panel data gravity model and compare the European Union membership effect with the effects of free trade agreements and customs unions. The Paper finds that there is a significant European Union membership effect well beyond zero tariffs an effect we do not find for the other two agreements. It interprets the effect above and beyond tariffs as the European Union's impact on NTMs. The economic effects for the United Kingdom the European Union and developing countries are about 2.5 times larger in the scenario that takes rising trade costs related to NTMs in addition to potentially rising tariffs into account. A potential increase of tariffs between the United Kingdom and the European Union and rising trade costs related to NTMs could decrease United Kingdom's exports to the European Union by 14 per cent. Even in the case a "standard" free trade agreement is signed such exports could drop by 9 per cent. Exports from developing countries into the United Kingdom and to a much smaller extent into the European Union could increase if the United Kingdom would not increase its tariffs for third countries.

Social distancing measures have been introduced in many countries in response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The rate of compliance to these measures has varied substantially. This research paper studies how cultural differences can explain this variance using data on mobility in Swiss cantons between January and May 2020. We find that mobility declined after the outbreak but significantly less in the German-speaking region. Contrary to the evidence in the literature we find that within the Swiss context higher generalized trust in others is strongly associated with lower reductions in individual mobility. We attribute these results to the German-speaking cantons having a combination of not only high interpersonal trust but also conservative political attitudes which may have altered the trade-off between the chance of contracting the virus and the costs associated with significant alterations of daily activities.

The expansion of Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) has introduced tools to address key sustainability challenges and expand trade as well as new complexity in trade policy dialogues. Although VSS are voluntary they have become a market reality and non-compliance can lead to the exclusion of producers from Global Value Chains (GVCs). Although the literature has adequately addressed the theoretical trade impact of VSS there is a worrying lack of empirical analysis in this field. This paper aims to draw the attention of researchers towards the lack of evidence in this area. Given that the gap in the literature can partly be explained by data access we also present some of the publicly available data sources and highlights the significance of increasing transparency in terms of data availability.

Climate change deforestation pollution development and loss of diversity are serious threats to indigenous peoples due to their dependence on the environment and the resources of the lands and territories. It causes the loss of traditional knowledge disintegrating traditional governance structures and their cultures. This policy briefing provides examples of the holistic perspective of indigenous peoples on resource governance land rights mitigation of climate change impact on their environment and resilience-building through the use of their traditional knowledge. It also highlights the benefit of indigenous peoples' full participation in particular indigenous women in decision-making processes to prevent conflict. It notes the importance of upholding the rights of indigenous peoples as enshrined in international law and full respect for the right of indigenous peoples decision to not to engage in the global economy. Further it points to the need to promote dialogue among indigenous peoples local communities scientists including meteorologists and climate experts policymakers and other relevant actors to enable co-production of knowledge and sharing of sustainable strategies to overcome risks and strengthen resilience to climate change.

The strengthening of institutions and incentives such as water user associations and secure water and tenure rights along with enhanced international cooperation can spur greater application of circular approaches in agriculture.

Fears related to economic insecurity are on the rise. Changes in the world of work together with globalization and technological breakthroughs have benefited many people but are also putting many others at disadvantage or at risk. These long-standing trends which have raised aspirations but also fears are compounded by evolving threats including those brought about by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decisions taken by institutional investors commercial banks capital market actors and corporations have a strong impact on the magnitude and quality of private investment available for the SDGs. To scale up available private finance and investment for sustainable development it is necessary to address the incentives of the above actors through a combination of regulatory and institution/industry-specific measures. Further action is needed to better channel investment to countries and SDG-related sectors that are most in need. The development of innovative and scalable global platforms instruments and funds would be an important first step in this regard. Additionally to enhance the impact of given investment on sustainable development and to avoid green or SDG-washing it is necessary to advance industry-based standards for impact measurement and support the development and implementation of a clear set of SDG related metrics that can be integrated into existing reporting frameworks.

The first months of 2022 witnessed an accelerated spike in the international prices of food and energy as a result of the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine. In the following months from May to September 2022 food prices dropped while natural gas and coal prices continued to surge. At present low- and middle-income countries are primarily facing a food crisis whereas high-income countries are predominantly challenged by an energy crisis. Policy responses have also diverged: Subsidies account for about 40 percent of responses while cash and in-kind transfers accrue 39 percent. There are vast inequalities and inefficiencies at play: Some 53 percent of transfers and subsidies are spent in high-income countries whereas low-income countries account for only 1 percent of the policy response. On average for every US$1000 spent per month a universal subsidy would prevent one person from falling into poverty but this number increases to 2.7 if the same amount is spent on a targeted cash transfer scheme. The cost-of-living crisis has not ended—in fact it is further exacerbating other crises.

Governments that consider risk in policymaking and successfully integrate risk management into their governance frameworks and development have a better record of DRR and resilience building. Climate change is already changing the frequency and intensity of natural hazards as well as increasing the vulnerabilities of countries in special situations including Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Ensuring risk-informed governance for climate action requires citizen-centric approach through the whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches including the leverage of government innovation and frontier technologies for DRR and resilience. Emerging trends globally show that there is a stark upsurge in the number of disasters in this century compared to the previous one. Over the past two decades climate-related disasters have nearly doubled compared to the preceding twenty years affecting more than 4 billion people.

The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in significant output contractions deteriorating social conditions and worsened debt sustainability. Some countries that had previously attained higher income status and deemed no longer to need grants and concessional finance in the form of Official Development Assistance (ODA) are once again in need of heightened international support. This includes countries that slid back to a lower income category as well as higher income vulnerable countries such as numerous small island developing States (SIDS) who have found it difficult to respond and recover from the pandemic without support. Access to ODA including through concessional finance windows at multilateral development banks (MDBs) is generally linked to gross national income (GNI) per capita. As developing countries attain higher income per capita status access to grants and concessional windows declines. As a result countries’ average cost of borrowing generally becomes more expensive with shorter maturities which can widen financing gaps in normal times. In times of crises these gaps are magnified underscoring countries’ need for support. Recognition that the need for support is often linked to factors that are not measured by income has led to MDBs in particular to include important exceptions in eligibility criteria including incorporating vulnerability. However it has often been ad hoc and not based on a full analysis of risk factors. This policy brief outlines the criteria to access ODA why it needs to improve and suggests a way forward.

Understanding how population trends are likely to unfold in the short medium and long terms is critical for achieving a more inclusive prosperous and sustainable future as recognized in the Declaration on Future Generations. This policy brief provides an overview of some of the main findings of the recently released report World Population Prospects 2024: Summary of Results (United Nations 2024a) with the aim of helping countries prepare for population sizes age structures and spatial distributions that may differ appreciably from those of their recent past.