Talk by Dr. Nicolas J.A. Buchoud on The UN SDGs at the Halfway Mark: Prospects & Challenges

Dr. Nicolas J.A. Buchoud, Think7 Consultant and Advisor to the Dean and CEO of Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), gave a talk at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, on 6 October 2023 and shared his perspective on "The UN SDGs at the Halfway Mark: Prospects & Challenges". The Session was chaired by the Director General, MP-IDSA, Ambassador Sujan R. Chinoy. Scholars of the Institute participated in the discussion.

Executive Summary

Dr. Buchoud emphasised the importance of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and called for enhanced collaboration between states. He acknowledged the challenges of macroeconomic and monetary factors affecting states’ efforts in achieving SDGs. Dr. Buchoud commended India's comprehensive efforts for its G20 Presidency and called India a role model for finding innovative solutions to various challenges of SDGs.

Detailed Report

Ambassador Sujan R. Chinoy introduced Dr. Nicolas J.A. Buchoud by highlighting all his important professional associations. Ambassador Chinoy, in his opening remarks, pointed out that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have not even become successful in achieving 10 to 12% of their set objectives past the halfway mark in 2023. Ambassador Chinoy mentioned that the COVID-19 Pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine have further created challenges for global food, fuel, fertilizers and finance that have hampered the success of SDGs. In his remarks, Ambassador Chinoy underscored that the developed states have failed in their commitments to provide the required finances to the developing states of the Global South. This has further deprived these states of achieving SDGs and their own nationally determined goals and objectives. With some of these initial remarks Ambassador Sujan R. Chinoy, called upon Dr. Nicolas J.A. Buchoud to deliver his talk.

Dr. Nicolas J.A. Buchoud thanked Ambassador Chinoy and started his talk by highlighting the importance of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Dr. Buchoud mentioned that there is a need for upgrading active collaboration and dialogue between G7 and G20 to address various issues of SDGs. He highlighted that the motto ‘Think globally, act locally’ remains very relevant for states in meeting their SDGs as many solutions to these global issues could be found locally at community, municipality and at regional levels. Dr. Buchoud in his talk acknowledged that there are a number of macroeconomic and monetary factors that are seriously affecting SDGs and international affairs as a whole. He pointed out that the issue of economic desynchronisation is not only at a global level but many developed Western states are witnessing the impact of economic desynchronisation within their states that hampers their efforts to meet SDGs. He brought out that though billions of dollars have been poured into the countries’ economies in the form of relief packages, no substantial progress has been made by these states in achieving SDGs.

Dr. Buchoud mentioned that the world presently is in an extremely volatile time period. The global links of interdependency post-Cold war have accelerated global urban development, but these linkages of interdependency have also created global challenges of governance for states. The moment these global linkages of interdependency get disrupted, these create equally difficult problematic situations for global order. He highlighted that analysing the current global order and states' divide within the UN, there remain some serious doubts about whether the existing framework of UN would be able to deliver on  Agenda 2030 in the next 6-7 years. He acknowledged that though there are several constraints within the existing system, attempts to review these challenges need to be done in a careful manner. Dr. Buchoud mentioned that in this global think tanks can play an important and constructive role. Highlighting India’s success of its G20 Presidency, Dr. Buchoud mentioned that India under its presidency managed to ensure consensus among states on various issues despite these states' global differences. This serves as a positive example of what could still be achieved on SDGs. Dr. Buchoud mentioned that the transformation of the global financial architecture is not an abstract phenomenon but it is something that is really happening. He pointed out that as the G20 Presidency in coming years moves to most of the countries of the Global South, these countries have a fair chance to shed a different light on development issues that are of primary concern to them. He pointed out that the African Union's entry into G20 is a positive sign. Many of these African countries have very strong recommendations about development and governance models that have been ignored by other countries in the past. African Union entry to G20 under the Indian Presidency offers many new opportunities to almost 50 African states to address these emerging challenges.

In his concluding remarks, Dr. Buchoud mentioned that the way in which India had prepared for and delivered its G20 Presidency has been far more comprehensive than has been analysed by most observers. Secondly, India since its independence, has emerged as a role model for development. India’s ability to craft significant innovation can become a guiding principle for addressing various challenges of SDGs. Finally, Dr. Buchoud mentioned that the efforts put forward by India under its G20 Presidency need to be taken forward and further refined, as these carry the seeds of possible transformations for the global future.

Questions and Comments

Ambassador Sujan R. Chinoy raised three critical comments for the Speaker to respond to:  Firstly, Ambassador Chinoy mentioned that the United Nations has become quite redundant and incapable of efficiently addressing global issues of war, peace, growth and prosperity. Secondly, he asked the Speaker to comment on the competing notions of what constitutes progress and development. Ambassador Chinoy mentioned that the assessment of the emerging global system suggests that there is no uniform code to which all the global states could collectively agree.  Thirdly, Ambassador Chinoy raised the issue of ‘Climate Finance’. He highlighted that under the preoccupation of post-COVID recovery and the Ukraine-Russia War, Western states seemed fatigued on the issues of climate finance. Ambassador Chinoy further mentioned that if he takes all these three factors into account, he does not see any of the SDGs successfully being achieved within the existing timeframe. He also questioned the Speaker regarding the UN’s rationality while setting its aspirations for these SDGs in 2015, being fully aware of the existing political, economic and other ideological differences among 193 countries of the world. Lastly, Ambassador Chinoy asked the Speaker if these Bretton Woods Institutions have any ‘Plan B’ if they failed to meet their 'Agenda 2030'.

Col. (Dr.) D.P.K. Pillay commented on the issue of the revival of coal-based plants in the European countries post-Ukraine War and asked the Speaker about their calls for green agenda and climate change. Col. Pillay also mentioned that the Global South needs adequate finances to meet their SDG targets for which the West needs to fulfil their commitments.

Dr. Uttam Kumar Sinha mentioned that the extent of these SDGs may be too vast and it may take another 56-60 years to achieve these, but the positive aspect of these SDGs is that they have started shaping the global growth models of states and made those more inclusive. 

Ms. Ruchita Beri asked Dr. Buchoud about the impact of COVID and the Ukraine War on meeting the objectives of SDGs. She questioned whether the Western world is ready to fulfil their financial obligations committed to African countries in the past.

Comdt. Manoranjan Srivastava also highlighted the issue of climate finance. He mentioned that India by 2030 requires almost 2.5 billion dollars to meet its climate obligations. He highlighted that the global ocean ecosystem has become vulnerable to the impacts of global warming and the earth has reached its tipping points, that cannot be reversed in the near future.

Dr. Adil Rasheed asked the Speaker if the global economic problems that have emerged post-COVID-19 Pandemic and the anomalies’ amongst states created by these, could be used as an excuse to get out of the 2030 deadline set for meeting SDGs.  

Dr. Nicolas J.A. Buchoud gave a detailed explanation to all the questions and the comments raised and the talk ended with a formal note of thanks from the Director General.

Report prepared by Mr. Bipandeep Sharma, Research Analyst, NTS Centre, MP-IDSA, New Delhi.