Building Back Better:
The SDGs as a roadmap for recovery
The Sustainable Development Goals offer a ‘ready-made’ roadmap to recovery from Covid-19.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are also the closest thing to a global strategy that 193 governments have agreed.
While progress towards achieving the SDGs has been threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic, the need to ‘re-set’ from its effects offer an opportunity to ensure delivery of the SDGs are a global priority. Prioritising key areas of economic and sustainable development will support and enable the achievement of the SDGs, especially if the leave no one behind principle is integrated into these approaches.
The next decade is a crucial one to achieve the SDGs and leave no one behind. The recommendations in this report show how the UK Government can play its part in integrating this framework into activities in the UK and internationally, providing a roadmap to build back better after the Covid-19 pandemic and offering a prosperous, resilient future for all.
Recommendations
Economic development
Integrate the leave no one behind principle into all UK Government activities so that the impact of UK actions at home and abroad on achieving the SDGs for the most marginalised in every context is understood and evaluated.
Enable and leverage finance available for delivering the SDGs through aligning trade deals with the framework, supporting debt restructuring and exploring options for cancellation where needed, supporting international and domestic tax reform for this purpose, and encouraging other actors such as the private sector to do business differently and demonstrate their impact on delivering the SDGs.
Maintain and develop programmes that support cash transfers, social protection, social insurance and market intervention measures to help individual businesses and workers cope with the economic fallout of Covid-19 containment measures. These measures must be developed and implemented in partnership with the people and communities benefiting from them in order to most effectively provide economic empowerment.
Invest in the creation of (and reskilling for) new, inclusive, decent jobs and livelihoods in sustainable and environmentally-friendly industries, including through grants and loans for small- and micro-enterprises and workers in the informal sector.
Sustainable development
Develop and implement more ambitious emissions-reduction policies in line with the UK’s Paris Agreement commitments and support efforts to protect global biodiversity, recognising that dangerous climate change and loss of biodiversity are major threats to achieving the SDGs in the next decade.
Produce an ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) prior to COP26 and use the summit to spearhead and inspire global action on reducing emissions and mitigating climate change.
Target UK Government support on adaptation to those most vulnerable to climate change to leave no one behind and ensure it delivers integrated solutions to tackling poverty, promoting nature restoration, and building climate and economic resilience.
Ensure any post-Covid-19 economic recovery packages support a green and just transition to sustainable and resilient business models and development pathways.
Build back better
Re-adopt the SDGs as an explicit roadmap to recovery.
Ensure that a Covid-19 vaccine and any proven treatments are available to all as fast as possible and free of charge to those who need it most.
Maintain current ODA for non-Covid-19 health programmes and support low-income countries to develop resilient public health systems and universal health coverage.
Invest and encourage wider investment in WASH facilities in schools and communities that do not already have adequate provision in order to help prevent further Covid-19 outbreaks, ensuring the principle of leave no one behind guides this support.
Increase spend from the international aid budget on education to 10 per cent given the impact of the pandemic on children and their education.
Commit to supporting governance and accountability-building mechanisms across government activities including within ODA, recognising the impact of the pandemic on civic space, drivers of conflict, transparency and corruption.
How to deliver the SDGs
Develop a cross-government strategy for achieving the SDGs and allocate responsibility for oversight of implementation to the Cabinet Office, overseen by the Prime Minister.
Establish a mechanism for ensuring and monitoring alignment, policy coherence and finding synergies across government with the SDG framework.
Develop a clear mechanism for engaging with stakeholders in reviewing progress in the UK and internationally, such as through engaging civil society, businesses and trade unions, in a systematic and inclusive way.
Use its influence to further lead and encourage businesses to adopt the SDGs and demonstrate their impact.
Ensure the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office puts strategic delivery of the SDGs at the heart of its work and builds on the strengths of both of the merged departments, increasing the transparency of UK aid and demonstrating the impact of its work on the poorest countries and communities in line with the leave no one behind principle.