Sustainability standards and global governance : experiences of emerging economies

Abstract

Sustainability standards are an important element of any strategy that aims at accelerating action towards implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. These agendas were both adopted in 2015, the year in which the collaborative work on this book commenced. Spirits were high then, and confidence in the ability of multilateralism to tackle global challenges grew again. In the end of 2019, it is a source of deep joy to see the final product and to know that it will soon be shared across the network of authors, their institutions and the communities of research and practice that they belong to. The intellectual adventure that lured the editors and authors into writing was based on the hypothesis underlying any international cooperation initiative: putting resources together beyond national borders increases our understanding of global problems and our possibilities of implementing solutions to them. In fact, the interest in learning from others across the world in order to increase the shared body of knowledge has always been an important motive of scientific activity. And a success factor, too, as intellectual curiosity and cooperation helped to push the geographical and epistemological boundaries of the known world ever further. Five years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement, we know that “we are not on track” as the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, put it in September 2019 when speaking at the SDG and climate action summits. More ambition and more action are needed, domestically and globally, as well as renewed investment in international cooperation. Global greenhouse gas emissions are growing instead of falling, and global trade is stalled by tensions between what used to be strong trading partners. At the same time, companies and investors are increasingly realising that the sustainable development goals and the climate agreement actually speak the language of reason in a world threatened by unmitigated climate change, social polarization and unrest. In this situation, it is most useful to be presented an analysis of what sustainability standards are, their strengths and weaknesses, and under which conditions their potential can best be realised, particularly in emerging economies.