In the European Union, no one focuses on the European Ecological Pact, accused the president of the Solutions Network for Sustainable Development.
The president of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), Jeffrey Sachs, warned this Monday in Lisbon of the “current militarism” in Europe, which undermines the sustainable development agenda.
In the European Union (EU), no one focuses on the European Ecological Pact, the official told journalists, commenting on the 2024 Sustainable Development Report, presented this Monday in Lisbon.
Jeffrey Sachs is the president of SDSN global, which together with the Portuguese network and other entities organizes this Monday and Tuesday in Lisbon the international conference “Paving the way to the Future Pact“, during which the Sustainable Development Report 2024 was launched.
The conference brings together national and international experts who will debate proposals for the Future Summit, a UN initiative scheduled for September, for two days.
In the Sustainable Development Report, Portugal ranks 16th, among 167 countries, in classification to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But the document also says that only 16% of the SDG targets are on track to be achieved globally by 2030.
Commenting on the document, Jeffrey Sachs, an American professor and economist, was especially critical of the United States, on this and other issues, and regretted that the European Union is not distancing itself from Washington.
The moment in which a new European Commission will take office, after the elections on the 9th, the person in charge considered it a good opportunity to reflect.
And the main reflection is that the EU is not NATO “nor a subsidiary organization of Washington.”he stated.
Considering that government policies are essential for sustainable development, Jeffrey Sachs highlighted that good policy presupposes a plan, an action, a commitment, a discussion of objectives and achievements, something that does not happen in the United States, where politics is contaminated by the corruption. particularly in the financing of electoral campaigns and in lobbies.
“This type of irrationality, in which objectives are adopted but the means to achieve them are not adopted, is the worst type of politics. We have these big goals (of sustainable development), but we do not take practical measures or organized measures” to achieve them, he lamented.
He explained that the EU adopted the European Ecological Pact, but did not create a plan to implement it and added that the bloc of 27 now has another problem, derived from the war in Ukraine.
“Suddenly, Europe talks as if the central issue of our time is war, strengthening the armed forces, mobilizing the economy and increasing military spending. And European leaders are absolutely wrong,” she stated.
In the official’s words, the war could end with negotiations, which are blocked by the United States, which in the past pushed NATO’s expansion to the east, despite the warnings and warnings of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
And now, he lamented, “the entire sustainable development agenda is in crisis” and European citizens are dissatisfied with the war situation and the increase in the cost of living.
To advance the achievement of the SDGs, he defended the importance of six points, including “quality education, science and technology”, good healthcare, investment in the energy transition or sustainable land use.
In meeting the SDGs, the EU did “very well” from 2015 to 2019, but then the situation worsened due to Covid-19 and war.
In low- and middle-income countries, compliance “is more complicated,” because they cannot make the transition they need due to lack of financial means.
SDSN has operated since 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General and mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement.
Source: Observadora
