Book launch “Essential Concepts for Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals: An A-Z Guide”

Описание: This is an online event organized by the Taskforce on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the Earth System Governance Project, on 16 October 2025.
Both the United Nations and experts in academia share a similar diagnosis: the 2030 Agenda with the SDGs designed to steer societies towards sustainability transformation, is in an acute crisis. On the one hand, many countries are not on track to achieve the goals by 2030. On the other hand, the SDGs have been publicly disavowed, with the most notable cases including the current US administration and a few other countries led by “libertarians” such as Argentina.
Beyond these striking cases, we more generally witness a worldwide backlash against sustainable development initiatives in various areas and an increasing trend towards autocratization. At the same time, the United Nations, the European Union, and several countries from the Global South continue to use the SDGs in their policy frameworks. We therefore posit that beyond their integration in sustainable development policy discourses, the SDGs have gained some ground in different political-administrative systems across governance levels. Our newly published book, Essential Concepts for Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals: An A-Z Guide, supports this assumption by offering up-to-date knowledge on, and engaging critically with, the most central concepts related to the implementation of the SDGs. This highly accessible and user-friendly volume showcases short explanations of such concepts and terms written by leading scholars to inform students and practitioners on the main challenges and opportunities related to SDG implementation.
Three contributing authors:
• Pamela Chasek, Professor of Political Science at Manhattan University, United States
• Rodrigo Führ, Cities and Climate Change Expert Coordinator, UN-Habitat
• Grayson Fuller, Senior Manager at the SDG Index, data and statistics at the
Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), Paris Office, France
The authors were invited to answer two guiding questions:
1) How would you portray the current state of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs?
2) What are knowledge gaps and how can A-Z guide contribute to the current debate?
The book launch ended with Q&As.

Timestamps:
00:00 - 13:30: Welcome by co-conveners Carole-Anne, Frank, Thomas, Yi hyun and Yixian
13:31 - 26:51: 5 min. interventions by contributing authors Pamela Chasek, Rodrigo Führ, Grayson Fuller
26:52 - 44:35: Q&As