Multi-stakeholder partnerships

Multi-stakeholder partnerships play a pivotal role in advancing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recognizing the scale and complexity of the global challenges the SDGs aim to address, these partnerships bring together actors from the public sector, private sector, civil society, academia, and more. By leveraging the unique resources, perspectives, and capabilities of diverse stakeholders, these partnerships can significantly enhance our collective ability to achieve the SDGs.

Multi-stakeholder partnerships can facilitate innovative solutions to complex issues. For example, collaborations between technology companies, governments, and NGOs can create digital solutions that improve access to education (SDG 4) or health services (SDG 3). By sharing knowledge and resources, partnerships can also address the issue of poverty (SDG 1) by creating sustainable job opportunities, providing financial resources, and offering necessary training and education.

Beyond fostering innovation, these partnerships promote inclusivity and leave no one behind, a fundamental principle of the SDGs. By ensuring that all voices are heard - from marginalized communities to large corporations - multi-stakeholder partnerships can create solutions that are equitable and effective, thereby promoting SDG 10, which calls for reduced inequalities.

Additionally, multi-stakeholder partnerships exemplify the spirit of SDG 17, which advocates for the strengthening of the means of implementation and revitalization of the global partnership for sustainable development. SDG 17 acknowledges that our global challenges are interconnected and that collaborative and coordinated efforts are crucial to achieving the SDGs.

However, to be effective, multi-stakeholder partnerships must be governed by principles of transparency, accountability, and mutual respect. Clear communication, defined roles and responsibilities, and regular assessments of progress are also crucial for success.

Elsevier,

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 34, October 2018, Pages 54-61.

There is a need to broaden the measures used to determine marine management effectiveness, especially in the context of achieving the SDGs. To advance goal 14, this article urges governments to pay more attention to new governance tools, including open innovation, when formulating new policy aimed at building future scenarios of economic resilience involving marine resource use.
Elsevier,

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 34, October 2018, Pages 48-53.

Furthering goal 11, this paper seeks to demonstrate that while the recentralization of urban governance has some potential to generate more sustainable human settlement patterns, it is less likely to foster sustainable and socially just transitions within cities.
To advance goals 7 and 13, and meet the global ambitions of sustainable energy transitions and universal energy access, this paper calls for transformations in the practice of knowledge-making and governance.
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RELX Group held two SDG Inspiration Days to bring together business, government and civil society to scale collaboration and engagement on the SDGs. The first SDG Inspiration Day took place in San Jose, California and focused on disruptive technology to advance the goals. The second day took place in Amsterdam and focused on the power of partnerships to achieve the goals.
In 2018, RELX Group hosted two SDG Inspiration Days to inspire scalable, collaborative action on the 17 SDGs, with particular emphasis on disruptive technology at Silicon Valley and on partnerships at Amsterdam. Watch videos of the speakers from the two days.
Elsevier,

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 34, October 2018, Pages 33-42.

This article contributes to goal 15 by arguing that the SDG portfolio can trigger a major step towards more holistic land use perspectives at the agriculture-forestry interface. This, in turn, has the potential to initiate institutional change to enhance dynamic sustainability.
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Advancing goal 17 through an inspiring event bringing together government, NGOs and private sector.
Advancing Global Goal 17, Partnerships for the Goals, INGSA is a global forum for policy-makers, practitioners, academies, and academics to share experience, build capacity, and develop theoretical and practical approaches to the use of scientific evidence in informing policy at all levels of government. 
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, Volume 13, October 2018
Sustainable green chemistry depends on technically feasible, cost-effective and socially acceptable decisions by regulators, industry and the wider community. The discipline needs to embrace a new suite of tools and train proponents in their use. We propose a set of tools that will bridge the gap between technical feasibility and efficiency on one hand, and social preferences and values on the other. We argue that they are indispensable in the next generation of regulators and chemistry industry proponents.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 34, October 2018
Actions on climate change (SDG 13), including in the food system, are crucial. SDG 13 needs to align with the Paris Agreement, given that UNFCCC negotiations set the framework for climate change actions. Food system actions can have synergies and trade-offs, as illustrated by the case for nitrogen fertiliser. SDG 13 actions that reduce emissions can have positive impacts on other SDGs (e.g. 3, 6, 12, 14, 15); but such actions should not undermine the adaptation goals of SDG 13 and SDGs 1, 2, 5 and 10.

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