– By Sankar Chakraborti
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. A new era of de-escalation, calm, and normalization in the world after the harrowing effects of the pandemic, that’s how the narrative went. It was expected to be a world with lower tensions in conflict-wracked regions, giving local governments and civil society actors much-needed space to tackle current and looming challenges—most crucially the threat from global warming and the imperative of the green energy transition.
With major ongoing wars threatening to spread further, the issue of climate change is likely to be pushed behind. The impact of these is also spreading to economic, social and other environmental effects, the core goals of sustainable development.
The past three years have found the world bouncing from crisis to crisis, caught in an increasingly challenging socio-economic environment. While some of these were unavoidable, others have been a result of our wrong choice of action or failure to act in the manner it required.
The summer of 2023, was the world’s hottest season ever recorded. Such drastic changes in the climate caused wildfires, floods, rising heat, and storms affecting lives around the globe, among which, the world’s poorest have suffered the most. Thus, further impacting the goal of climate action and life on Earth. Pandemic shutdowns revealed the fault lines in social protection and service delivery across all countries, deepening existing divides and thrusting the vulnerable even further behind. Livelihoods were overturned and well-being was compromised, reversing one of the SDGs – ending poverty. While there has been some recovery, it has been fragile and uneven. And the cascading cost-of-living crisis driven by subsequent conflict and geopolitical divides has widened the fissures. Thus, damaging the goal of economic growth and sustainability.
The socio-eco growth has further been undermined due to the significant displacement of people. The plight of forced displacement has reached staggering proportions, with over 114 million individuals now uprooted from their homes, a concerning revelation from the United Nations. This distressing figure marks a significant rise of 1.6 million since the close of 2022. The surge in displacement during the first half of 2023 is primarily driven by conflicts in regions including Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A prolonged humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and a combination of drought, floods and insecurity in Somalia, UNHCR said.
With ongoing wars around the world, the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals could go further out of reach. For example, now, in the wake of the incursion into Israel by Hamas and the reprisal by Israeli military forces on Gaza, the Middle East climate agenda is likely to be pushed behind along with several other key goals.
The first concern is the economic impact of the conflict. While the overall effect of the Gaza conflict on the global economy is currently minimal, a prolongation and geographic expansion of the war is likely to darken the picture considerably, according to the IMF, affecting both oil prices and growth. That may negatively influence richer countries’ ability and willingness to help poorer less-endowed climate-ravaged countries, including those in the Middle East. It could also bolster the “go-slow” voices on the transition away from hydrocarbon production. The second area concerns the war’s impact on multilateral climate cooperation between Israel and the Arab world. All these could have drastic consequences, oil prices could surge, and disagreements between nations could worsen. These wars could complicate already fragile global diplomacy ahead of the crucial climate talks of 2023 between UN members.
According to the report, the impacts of the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, a weak global economy, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have revealed weaknesses and hindered progress towards the Goals. The report further warns that while lack of progress is universal, it is the world’s poorest and most vulnerable who are experiencing the worst effects of these unprecedented global challenges. It also points out areas that need urgent action to rescue the SDGs and deliver meaningful progress for people and the planet by 2030.
In conclusion, we can achieve these goals and have a better tomorrow. By making the transformative changes enshrined in the 2030 Agenda of the UN, we can weather the global shocks, build resilience, and emerge stronger. The 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report highlights the significant contribution of science, and evidence-based actions, to counter uncertainty and address global challenges – the eradication of poverty, ending hunger, tackling climate change, reversing biodiversity loss and reducing inequality, among others.
(Sankar Chakraborti is the chairman ESG risk.ai and Group CEO, at Acuité.)
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