The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has released a new policy report that provides governments with a set of recommendations to align immediate economic recovery efforts with long-term objectives of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Agenda.

Engaging the private sector in infrastructure financing through public-private partnership (PPP) can contribute significantly to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, PPP has yet to realize its potential fully in several Asia-Pacific economies.

In 2019, the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF and partners worked side by side with children and young people to overcome the obstacles that keep far too many children from reaching their full potential.

While forest area has declined all across the world in the past three decades, the rate of forest loss has declined due to the growth of sustainable management.The rate of forest loss in 2015-2020 declined to an estimated 10 million hectares (mha), down from 12 million hectares (mha) in 2010-2015, according to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 (FRA 2020).

The EEA report ‘Drivers of change of relevance for Europe's environment and sustainability’ provides an in-depth characterisation of developments that range from demographic shifts to leaps in technological innovation and from global competition for natural resources to changes in geopolitical landscape and people’s lifestyles.

As the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development enters its fifth year of implementation, it is opportune to ask how governance is understood and implemented around the world. In fact, one can go further to probe the extent to which governments are cognizant of the principles undergirding effective governance.

Against the backdrop of a raging and devastating pandemic, the world economy is projected to shrink by 3.2 per cent in 2020. Under the baseline scenario, GDP growth in developed countries will plunge to –5.0 per cent in 2020, while output of developing countries will shrink by 0.7 per cent.

Social dialogue has been long employed as a tool in the governance of work, with the objective of delivering sustainable economic growth, social justice and the kind of high-trust work relations that are not only valuable in themselves, but that can also improve business performance and increase workers’ share in rising profitability.

This policy brief makes a case for protecting science, technology and innovation (STI) budgets during the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath, based on the fact that continued investments in STI will be critical to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.