Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a formidable governance challenge for countries at all levels of development. It requires governments to co-ordinate, consult and work across policy areas – as well as with the businesses sector and civil society – in an unprecedented way. This report provides evidence from OECD countries and partner economies on how public governance practices can be strengthened to help implement the SDGs. It looks at whole-of-government co-ordination, policy coherence and integrity, stakeholder engagement and open government, and the strategic use of budgeting, procurement and regulatory tools.

Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a formidable governance challenge for countries at all levels of development. It requires governments to co-ordinate, consult and work across policy areas - as well as with the businesses sector and civil society - in an unprecedented way. This report provides evidence from OECD countries and partner economies on how public governance practices can be strengthened to help implement the SDGs. It looks at whole-of-government co-ordination, policy coherence and integrity, stakeholder engagement and open government, and the strategic use of budgeting, procurement and regulatory tools. It discusses robust monitoring and evaluation systems for ensuring that public policies and resource allocations for SDG implementation result in meaningful outcomes. It also explores how governance frameworks to support equal access to justice and gender equality can help catalyse implementation across the entire 2030 Agenda.

Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a formidable governance challenge for countries at all levels of development. It requires governments to co-ordinate, consult and work across policy areas - as well as with the businesses sector and civil society - in an unprecedented way. This report provides evidence from OECD countries and partner economies on how public governance practices can be strengthened to help implement the SDGs. It looks at whole-of-government co-ordination, policy coherence and integrity, stakeholder engagement and open government, and the strategic use of budgeting, procurement and regulatory tools. It discusses robust monitoring and evaluation systems for ensuring that public policies and resource allocations for SDG implementation result in meaningful outcomes. It also explores how governance frameworks to support equal access to justice and gender equality can help catalyse implementation across the entire 2030 Agenda.

The basic function of companies is to add value to society. Profits are a means to an end, not an end in itself. The ability of companies to innovate, scale and invest provides them with a powerful base for positive change. But companies are also criticized for not contributing sufficiently to society’s grand challenges. An increasingly VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world creates serious governance gaps that not only require new ways of regulation, but also new ways of doing business. Can companies effectively contribute to sustainable development and confront society’s systemic challenges? Arguably the most important frame to drive this ambition was introduced and unanimously adopted in 2015: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDG-agenda not only defines a holistic set of global goals and targets, but also foundational principles to guide meaningful action to their achievement by 2030. Multinational companies have signed up to the SDGs as the world’s long-term business plan. Realizing the SDGs provides a yearly $12 trillion investment and growth opportunity, while creating hundreds of millions of jobs in the process. But progress is too slow – witnessing society’s inability to deal with pressing human, ecological, economic and health crises – whilst the vast potential for societal value creation remains underutilized. This book provides a timely account of the systemic, strategic and operational challenges that need to be addressed to enhance the effectiveness of corporate involvement in society, by using the SDGs as the leading principles-based framework for actionable, powerful and transformative change. Principles of Sustainable Business is written for graduate and postgraduate (executive) students, policymakers and business professionals who want to understand the complex challenges of global sustainability. It shows how companies can design and implement SDG-relevant strategies at three levels: the macro level, to assess whether the SDGs present wicked problems or opportunities; the micro level, to develop and operationalize innovative business models, design new business cases and navigate organizational transition trajectories; and the meso level, to develop fit-for-purpose cross-sector partnering strategies. Principles of Sustainable Business presents innovative tools embedded in a coherent sequence of analytical frameworks that can be applied in courses for students, be put into practice by business professionals and used by action researchers to help companies contribute to the Decade of Action.

This book addresses the increasingly urgent question: How can governments be made more accountable for the quality of their environmental stewardship? It explores: Enhanced national State of the Environment reporting and integration of environmental outcomes in key national indicators. Mainstreaming environmental goals, targets, and risks by integrating them in fiscal policy and the annual budget—a government’s most important policy instrument. Promoting sustainability by progressively exposing and eliminating harmful tax and expenditure policies, putting a price on pollution, and providing environmental public goods. Civil society environmental monitoring. The book combines in-depth assessment of the latest climate/green budgeting literature and country practices with discussion of how to implement green fiscal policies. The framework is deliberately ambitious given the severity, scale, and urgency of climate change and biodiversity loss. The book will be of interest to ministry of finance, budget, and planning officials, to environment sector agencies, oversight institutions, international organizations, civil society organizations, and to academics and students in the fields of environmental studies, development studies, economics, public finance, and public policy.

Pursuing sustainable development requires a whole-of-society effort, where the public sector engages with citizens, the private sector and civil society organisations. With this goal in mind, in 2014, the Nuevo León (Mexico) government created the Nuevo León’s Council for Strategic Planning to develop, inter alia, a 2015-2030 Strategic Plan.