Sir, Herman Mulder is right that a different architecture is needed to assure long-term growth in this time of economic, environmental and social crises. But new international institutions are not the answer. In fact, there are already too many intergovernmental and nongovernmental organisations. A better solution is putting sustainable development at the centre of existing institutions. Hallmarks of sustainable policy making include interdisciplinary perspectives, whole-of-government decision-making and extensive stakeholder involvement. Such an approach is gaining ground world-wide, and particularly in Europe. The basis of sustainable development is the creation of economic policies that put a price on environmental and social “externalities,” or costs. Sustainable fiscal, monetary, employment, trade, technology, investment, development and other economic policies are designed to minimise negative environmental and social impacts. They aim to correct market failures perpetuating today’s societal and ecological and ills, including climate change. Strategies for individual sectors such as tourism, transport and education should build on coherent national sustainable development strategies. But the sustainable development governance model needs to be based on a solid foundation of impact assessments in order to expose the economic, environmental and social synergies and trade-offs of policies and proposals. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), for its part, is increasingly assessing the environmental and social dimensions of growth and globalisation. This requires greater co-operation among international organisations, including the United Nations, OECD, IMF and World Bank. It also necessitates more interaction with civil society and NGOs and maximum transparency. No, Mr. Mulder, we should not create a new international Advisory Council or multistakeholder forum until we have put sustainable development at the heart of existing institutions first.
What do YOU think? Please leave your comments at the end of the article
Over 150 think tanks and universities across Europe contribute authors and ideas to Europe’s World. This section showcases their own publications and reports and is also a bulletin board for their upcoming events.
What do YOU think are the key policy problems that Europe must resolve? What ideas need a Europe-wide airing? This section is open to your contributions.