Governance for the Sustainable Development Goals

This first chapter takes off by explaining the objectives of this book on governance for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It explains what the SDGs are and how they came into being. Then, the chapter sets out the opportunities and challenges that are linked with the SDGs and in particular with SDG 6 on sustainable energy and SDG 13 on climate change. The chapter also gives a definition of the key term global change, sustainable development and governance. Finally, it lays out the structure of this book.

The purpose of this chapter is to offer an overview of some key theories on governing change that can be relevant for the SDGs. This outline can serve as a basis for the exploration of the case studies in Chap. 4. Extant theories and their cross-cutting issues (called ‘theoretical pillars’ in this book) are meant to serve as the basis for the novel concept of ‘integrative sustainability governance’ and can directly feed into the Integrative Sustainability Governance (ISG) framework which is presented in Chap. 7. As such, this chapter functions as the theoretical ‘scaffolding’ from which to work on the construction of the ISG framework. However, providing an exhaustive presentation of all theories related to governance for the SDGs is beyond the scope of this book. (A good overview of transition studies can be found in Grin et al. 2010. Hale and Held (Handbook of transnational governance: institutions and innovations. Polity Press, Cambridge, 2011) give a comprehensive account of transnational and networked governance. Metagovernance is outlined in Meuleman (Public management and the metagovernance of hierarchies, networks and markets: the feasibility of designing and managing governance style combinations. Springer, New York, 2008), and the website of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis (http://​www.​indiana.​edu/​~workshop/​) provides numerous materials on polycentricity. Sabel and Zeitlin (The Oxford handbook of governance. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 169–185, 2012) describe experimental governance.) This chapter starts by suggesting some reasons why a multiplicity of theories will continue to be needed for governing complex sustainability issues. Next, it explores five promising theories that are relevant for governance for the SDGs: Finally, the summary draws linkages between the different theories and seeks to show synergies and lacunae across the theories.

This chapter explores the question “who is involved in governance for the SDGs?” and is based on the analytical elements from Chap. 2. In that sense, this chapter is a bridge between the theories in the previous chapter and the specific case studies in the next chapter. This chapter lays out the wide range of actors (in the sense of stakeholders), interests and discourses that need to be involved in achieving the SDGs. The interviews and observations that this chapter is based on shed a critical light on the functioning of and interaction between different stakeholders involved in governance for the SDGs. Two main types of actors and institutions were identified early on this research. The first type traditionally operates at one level on a specific geographical or jurisdictional scale (local governments, national governments and international organizations) as discussed in Sect. 3.1. The second type typically operates in a non-traditional, ‘multilevel’ mode (e.g. networks and corporations) or is not limited to act at specific levels (e.g. academics and powerful individuals) and is described in Sect. 3.2.

This chapter contains the four specific case studies for this book: A detailed investigation of these cases studies is warranted for the following reasons:

Based on the findings and analyses in the previous chapters, this chapter suggests some key areas around which the Integrative SDG Governance (ISG) framework could be developed. This is in line with the question ‘Which theoretical pillars (cross-cutting themes) and competences can be drawn from existing literature and the case studies together on the areas in which Integrative SDG Governance should be more encompassing than extant sustainability governance?’ The indicator areas or ‘frames’ are grouped around the three pillars of power, knowledge and norms because the literature review, interviews and case studies together show the importance of (the interplay between) these themes as ultimate drivers for sustainability governance (Conventional strategies for sustainable development operate on the ‘proximate drivers’ of governance, namely technology, demographics and institutions. These proximate drivers are mainly responsive to short-term intervention. The ultimate drivers for sustainable development are power, knowledge, norms and culture (Raskin et al. 2002). These drivers are subject to long-term systemic processes.). However, there is not much research available on sustainability governance that looks into the role of all three of these theoretical pillars. Still, much of the existing literature on power, knowledge and norms is problematic in the context of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research fields (such as sustainability science) and tends to reach high levels of abstraction and terminological subtleties.

This book demonstrates the role of governance at different levels in implementing the SDGs, and within that context in previous chapters the main discourses are analysed and key competences for effective and coherent transition governance are identified. This chapter takes these findings one step further by suggesting three actions that can be taken to increase the effectiveness and coherence of governance for the SDGs at both the individual and the collective (community, organization, institution, societal, etc.) levels. These inferenced actions are:

These inferences are highly complementary with the theoretical pillars and competences in the previous chapter and in fact build on them. All three inferences are meant to function as building blocks for coherent approaches in the Integrative Sustainability Governance (ISG) framework which is presented in the next and final chapter.

Chapter 1 started off by explaining that Integrative Sustainability Governance is a specific form of sustainability governance and defines it as ‘a collective enterprise which aims to address sustainability problems adequately through fostering fundamental change’. This final chapter aims to draw together the Integrative Sustainability Governance framework in an effort to answer the main question that this book addresses (‘What are the essential elements and the organizing logic of an integrative framework that is suitable for analysing governance for the SDGs from a global perspective and for implementing the related transitions?’). As such, this chapter summarizes the main findings of this book. In addition, this chapter suggests promising avenues for future practice and research on the SDGs.