
© Jürgen Schwenkenbecher, picture alliance
Positions of Different Actors
The debate on sustainable development is an important part of the new foreign policy challenges that are emerging as a result of international power shifts between industrialised countries and emerging powers. Countries such as Brazil, China, India and South Africa are increasingly representing their development interests in various multilateral negotiations. The US and Argentina have distanced themselves from the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. The EU is internally divided and has not yet been able to take a convincing leadership role.
The SWP publications listed here analyse the capacity of different actors to engage in sustainable development governance and their individual perspectives on the necessary framework conditions, policy options and responsibilities for implementing sustainable development.
SWP publications on the European Union's climate and energy policy can be found in the dossiers on climate and energy. Publications of SWP’s thematic working group »International Cooperation in the Context of Systemic Rivalry« can be found here.
Publications
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Politics matters!
Political will as a critical condition for implementing the sustainable development goals
in: Earth System Governance, Volume 24, 2025, 100244, ISSN 2589-8116doi:10.1016/j.esg.2025.100244
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Trump 2.0 and the United Nations
Implications for multilateral funding and leadership
in: Division for International Cooperation - Global and European Policy Department, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V., Bonn, January 2025, 8 pages (online) -
Country-level Politics around the SDGs
Analysing political will as a critical element of the Mid-Term Review of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs
SWP Research Paper 2023/RP 07, 10.07.2023, 75 Pagesdoi:10.18449/2023RP07
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Germany and Namibia as Co‑leads for the United Nations
Chances and challenges on the road to the 2024 UN Summit of the Future
SWP Comment 2023/C 03, 12.01.2023, 4 Pagesdoi:10.18449/2023C03
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The UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development: An orchestrator, more or less?
in: Global Policy, 00, July 2022, pp. 1– 11doi:10.1111/1758-5899.13112
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Conflicts in UN Reform Negotiations
Insights into and from the Review of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
SWP Research Paper 2021/RP 09, 09.12.2021, 31 Pagesdoi:10.18449/2021RP09