The multidimensional and intergenerational nature of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for integrated policies. Progress made in a particular social, economic or environmental area or individual goal may generate synergies and trade-offs across dimensions (spillover effects), and steps taken in one country could have positive or negative impacts beyond national borders (transboundary effects). Assessing the multidimensional and cross-border effects of policies has become even more urgent in the context of COVID-19 containment measures. However, there are gaps in governance and analytical tools for identifying and managing spillover and transboundary effects, posing challenges for governments in designing and implementing sustainability strategies. Launched on 8 April, Understanding the Spillovers and Transboundary Impacts of Public Policies: Implementing the 2030 Agenda for More Resilient Societies, a new volume from the OECD and the European Commission-Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC), presents a set of new governance and analytical tools, lessons learned from country experiences, and good emerging practices for managing spillover and transboundary effects in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
Together with collaborators at the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy and the Center for Global Commons at the University of Tokyo, the SDSN contributed a chapter presenting our pilot Global Commons Stewardship Index, a new tool for gauging how countries are impacting the ecosystems and key Earth systems that keep the planet in a safe operating space.
