The seventeen Sustainable Development Goals promoted by the United Nations through the Agenda 2030 have become the core commitments for both international cooperation and domestic strategies of individual countries. While the previous Millennium Development Goals were mostly focused on developing countries, the Agenda 2030 represents the first comprehensive attempt to deal with sustainable development at a global scale, jointly addressing sustainability challenges in advanced, emerging and developing countries and recognizing complex interactions between such groups of economies.
Traditional development goals – like the fight against poverty and hunger or the promotion of health, education, women empowerment and sanitation (respectively SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) - are now coupled with objectives about crosscutting environmental issues – like energy, climate change and the protection of water and land ecosystems (SDGs 7, 13, 14, 15) – that in turn directly challenge dominant systems of production and consumption as well as the stability of our cities and societies (SDGs 11, 12, 16). Each of the above-mentioned goals is closely related with countries’ economic conditions, with other goals directly addressing economic issues – like sustainable growth, equality, inclusive industrial development, innovation and infrastructural investment (SDGs 8, 9, 10). The recent scientific literature has detected numerous synergies and trade-offs existing between the different targets, which respectively can foster or hinder a simultaneous achievement of the seventeen goals.
OEET research covers some of such positive interactions and potential trade-offs, with particular attention given to economic growth, trade, environmental protection and food security. The specificities of different countries and the particular context of emerging economies are considered in monitoring and analysing the realization of the goals.
Reference Members
Selected published works
Work in progress
- Biggeri, M., Bortolotti, L., Ferranninni, A. & Saccone, D., China at the crossroads: analysing policy and provincial performance towards the SDGs
- Marson, M., Saccone, D. & Vallino, E., Empirical insights on food trade and obesity in developing countries
