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Decoupling is a dangerous fantasy sustained by disavowal – the simultaneous admission and denial – of its impossibility in practice.

Does Europe’s reignited love affair with the financial sector come at the price of a divorce from its commitments to climate change, development and human rights?

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development offers a framework to address today’s complex challenges surrounding human mobility.

The launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) marks the introduction of sustainability as an overarching concept for international development by integrating economic, social and environmental concerns at the international policy level. Y…

Another Perspective is The Broker’s new blog. The title reflects The Broker’s ambition to look at globalization issues in different ways. Through this blog, we also keep our followers up to date on matters that concern us.

Enhancing the universal relevance of SDGs

Negotiations on the goals that are to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) after 2015 are entering a critical phase. On 24 September 2025 the proposals of the Open Working Group (OWG) for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be pre…

A difficult choice looms in the post-2015 debate between accepting a progressive but imperfect starting point for intergovernmental negotiations, and risking losing all the gains made so far.

In his 1963 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, the late US president John F. Kennedy expressed two ambitions for that decade: to commit to a manned moon mission and to end world poverty and hunger. On 21 July 1969, Apollo 11 landed on…

The report of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing, launched on 8 August 2014, has missed an important opportunity to accomplish a breakthrough on the pressing questions of development finance. Domin…

In July 2014, the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development proposed a universal set of post-2015 goals and targets to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The draft consists of 17 ambitious goals for social, economic and enviro…

How to really achieve development’s latest buzzword.

The recently launched Millennium Development Goals Report gives reason for optimism about achievement of the first goal: reduce extreme poverty by half. However, the figures do not display the little progress made for the poorest of the poor,…

The long wait is over. During the 13th and final session of the Open Working Group (OWG) on sustainable development goals (SDGs), held from 14 to 19 July, the 69 member countries agreed on a set of 17 SDGs and 169 associated targets. These should…

Diversification of employment opportunities into non-farm, non-mining activities will be critical to safeguarding Ecuador’s rainforest. However, this is easier said than done.

Co-creation and combining the strengths of business ecosystems are the key to creating shared value.

Using Ostrom’s work on managing the commons, and more recent interest-based and discursive institutionalism, this paper seeks to reveal the interests behind and fallacy of the discourse used by the state, with support from segments of capital, to…

Now that Official Development Assistance (ODA) has been declining for the past few years, academic discussions on how to attract additional public and private sources of funding for sustainable development are heating up.

Now that the work of the Open Working Group (OWG) on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is coming to an end, the question of finance casts a dark shadow over the final round of negotiations. Last week, the Group of 77 (G77) and China present…

More green investment can stimulate growth and employment in a crisis-ridden Europe, and reverse recent negative trends in the climate change mitigation progress.

In October, several events will be hosted concerning the post-2015 process. A selection of key events is presented in the table below. The Broker will update you on some of the most relevant events.For a more detailed overview of all events, plea…

Since their adoption in 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been the most successful global anti-poverty push in history. They have helped in achieving tremendous progress, including halving extreme poverty, improving the lives of 2…

A tribute to Loretta Schaeffer and the ASTAE team and the local stakeholders who pioneered new ways of commercially generating and delivering electricity services to people.

Now that the eighth and final stocktaking session of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has taken place, the more ‘friendly’ phase of the post-2015 process seems to have come to an end. The OWG member states’ over…

Safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services is essential to meet the basic needs of the poor. But how to integrate them in the post-2015 development agenda?

Despite the aspirations, the development of a set of Sustainable Development Goals remains a challenging trial.

If one message should be taken from the European Development Days it is that the world will not be able to tackle its many future economic, social and ecological challenges without sustainable development partnerships.

Ecosystems scientist Mark Everard makes a compelling case for the necessity of a more sustainable relationship between humanity and the water cycle.

The new policy framework should acknowledge that challenges for global sustainable development and the environment are interlinked.

Although the MDGs have certainly facilitated progress in Africa’s development, sustaining this progress comes with national, regional and global challenges.

In the last week of September, world leaders gathered in New York for the general debate marking the opening of the 68th UN General Assembly (GA). This was an important moment for the post-2015 process, as several events were organized on the glob…

In spite of the ongoing euro crisis, which does not leave much space for an ambitious global agenda, the EU remains a major global development actor.

Global goals need global policies. Governments have more to win than lose if they join forces and agree upon a single post-2015 agenda.

The High-level Panel (HLP) report has failed to transform the post-2015 debate, because it has missed the opportunity to correct the misinterpretations, misconceptions and misappropriations of the MDGs.

Fundamental systemic change is needed, starting with a cultural paradigm shift based on appreciation of our environment.

A new system is needed for global governance, in which there is harmony and balance between shared values.

Only through focusing on equity can poverty reduction and a sustainable environment be achieved in the post-2015 development framework.

Imagine the world was a cooperation: what business model would serve us best to achieve sustainable development? 

Public procurement can be used to spur economic transition. But there can be a bottleneck when sustainability and inclusiveness do not converge.

The Broker, together with the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organized the Dutch launch of the 2013 European Report on Development (ERD), Post-2015: Global Action for an Inclus…

To achieve inclusive development the European Union (EU) needs to reframe its economic policy and reconsider politically sensitive issues.

Creating shared value is a new concept to get private sector involved in building an inclusive economy. But how different it is from CSR?

While the UN High Level Panel report has been praised for its comprehensiveness and ambition, it is also criticized for avoiding more difficult political issues like inequality.

How can we create a more inclusive economy and what obstacles lie in the way? This debate seeks answers.

As the 1000-day count-down to the end of the Millennium age begins, it is expedient to unearth the hurdles encountered during the 15-year development journey. Though remarkable progress is made on the MDGs, regional imbalances exist.

Many trillions of US dollars are needed quickly to finance the investments for a low carbon economy. Where to find the capital and investors, what keeps them away from investing in more sustainable initiatives. Ingrid Holmes (E3G) spoke about that…

If the corporate world is to pursue a global food security agenda, it cannot ignore the role of small-scale farming systems. Therefore it is essential they make connections with local organisations.

The UN’s two-day event on water issued a call for a Post-2015 development framework that is less fragmented than the process of formulating the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and is integrated with the sustainable development agenda. So far,…

Inequalities within countries are largely ignored in the UN climate negotiations. This must change, but the global poor should be spared.

The right approach to solve food insecurity is a holistic approach, because otherwise you are likely to end up with large quantities of food lying around and rotting in the villages. 

The approaches and measures China chooses to address its water challenges could add to future problems.

A new kind of entrepreneurs, capable to bet on innovation as a social and cultural shared practice to drive change, is needed for food and nutrition security. Some reflections from Latin America.

UNESCO can play a vital role in guaranteeing a focus on sustainability and interrelated water challenges in the formulation of the post-2015 development agenda. 

The impact of mining on the quality of water resources should be given a place on the global agenda.

A combination of utility performance indicators to measure the ‘S’factor as the new water SDG is crucial for the sustainable development agenda to have the desired effect.

Global networks of Public Private Partnerships’ successes in promoting sustainable food production cannot be ignored. Through long-term commitments, they advantaged project-based learning, the up-scaling of local capabilities and knowledge transfers.

Water security requires a different perspective towards water-use: If we don’t waste it now, we will still have water in the future.

Partnerships have much to contribute to develop capacity. Yet, not all partnerships are the same. Where public-private partnerships have failed to meet the expectations, public-public partnerships are emerging as valuable alternative.

The Broker is launching an online consultation on the role of water in the soon to be determined post-2015 development agenda. This consultation will bring together a range of inspiring people from different backgrounds – including academics, entr…

With only two years to go, the debates on the successor to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are intensifying. Two candidates are running up to the end of the MDG term in 2015: the Post-2015 development agenda (derived from the MDGs) and the…

Improved water management can avoid future water related conflicts, through a de-centralized, de-politicized and transparent approach based on stakeholder involvement and water engineering technology.

The key areas to prioritize in the UN’s Post-2015 development agenda will soon be determined in a worldwide consultation process coordinated by the UN. Feeding into this process, The Broker brings together international experts to pool their knowl…

There is an inevitable trade-off between global growth and climate change. Unless there is a direct causal link from faster economic growth to the development of carbon-reducing technologies, and this is strong enough to reduce the carbon intensit…

This blogpost is about the master class Agriculture Beyond Food that took place the first week of December in Indonesia. One of the main challenges discussed is how to choose for the food and fuel option, rather than food or fuel. 

It was said that there was a fisherman who caught a lot of fish with his rod, which caused the other fishermen to envy him.

The latest Policy Brief of the Earth System Governance Project – a ten years research initiative, which is sponsored by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and the United Nations University…

In the framework of the Bellagio Initiative, The Broker hosted a lively online debate on human wellbeing and inclusive economics in the 21st century. Our contributors agree that economic growth as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) generally…

Few topics in the broad domain of ‘development’ are as sexy as microfinance. Rock stars, royalty, the Nobel prize committee – almost everyone seems to have embraced it. Public relations for microfinance has been awesome.

Our economy is shaped by our culture, Michiel Schwarz argues. The "sustainist" culture that is emerging will fuel a shift in economic orientation and the rise of an "ethononomics".

Talk is cheap. Results are what matter. That is the apparent consensus ahead of next month’s aid effectiveness summit in Busan, whose organizers promise “a clear focus on development results,” while sceptics worry about a lot of rhetoric and littl…

It is time to refocus our energy and place our trust in the power and creativity of the people, argues Manuela Monteiro.

We may need a new development model, one that puts greater emphasis on culture and social exclusion, Tanja Van de Linde argues.

Probably you already have noticed that The Broker started a project called the “Bellagio Initiative: living well in the 21st century”. This is mainly an online debate on a series of questions related to the promotion of human wellbeing in general,…

According to Charles Seaford, Head of the Centre for Well-being, growth should not be the primary objective of economic policy.

Some weeks ago the European Commission published its initial views on the strategy towards the Rio+20 Summit. The communication has to fuel dialogues ahead of a final EU Rio+20 Strategy later this year. Although the communication, titled ‘Rio+20:…

Today, less than one year ahead of the Rio+20 Earth Summit, 13 eminent international experts on sustainable development governance from seven countries released a joint statement entitled: ‘Now is the Time! Why Rio+20 must succeed’.The joint state…

The concept of sustainable development has been rearing its head in international, national and local policy debates for almost 25 years. And yet the precise meaning of the concept is still elusive. It is vague and difficult to actually put into p…

Editor Evert-jan Quak comments and reflects on new research, publications, blog posts, conferences and current affairs in the field of inclusive and sustainable economy.