Sustainable Development Solutions Network Northern Europe The SDSN is a unique network of problemsolvers that contribute to practical solutions for sustainable development, through collaborative efforts that support: - Active dialogue and impact - Problem-solving, solutions and financing - Educational initiatives - Applied research and communication Centre for Environment and Sustainability, GMV for more information please contact Darko Manakovski, Program Manager SDSN NE [email protected], [email protected] Katarina Gårdfeldt, Director GMV [email protected], [email protected] www.unsdsn-ne.org Why the SDSN and the SDSN Northern Europe? the sdsn: a global initiative the sdsn northern europe In September 2015 the United Nations will adopt the post-2015 development agenda and launch the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replacing the Millennium Development Goals that were operational between 2000 and 2015. The 17 SDGs set a 15-year timeframe to mobilize global sustainable development efforts around a common set of goals and targets and aspirations and priorities. The SDGs call for worldwide joint action among all stakeholders, i.e. governments, the private sector, the academic and scientific community and civil society to ensure the sustainability of our planet by 2030. Therefore, integrated understanding of sustainable development as well as practical problem solving and resource mobilization is needed. In 2013, the SDSN communicated, via the Swedish Secretariat for Environmental Earth System Sciences, SSEESS, the need for an SDSN network to be convened in Northern Europe. Consequently, the Centre for Environment and Sustainability, GMV at Gothenburg University and Chalmers University of Technology has received a mandate to host the regional SDSN network for Northern Europe, as one of ten regional networks within the global SDSN. Preliminarily the SDSN Northern Europe will convene members, potential members and industry and institutional partners from Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. By the end of 2015, the SDSN Northern Europe welcomes all universities in the region as members. Current members include Chalmers, University of Gothenburg, Lund University, Stockholm University, KTH, University of Gävle, Copenhagen University, the Western Norway Research Institute and ScanBalt. The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) is a global initiative launched by UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon. It is built on the idea that centres of knowledge must take leadership in driving goal-based change, in close collaboration with the UN, institutional and industry partners. The SDSN mobilizes resources, scientific and technical expertise from academia, industry, government and civil society, in support of sustainable development problem solving at local, national, and global level. The network aims to accelerate joint learning and help to overcome the compartmentalization of technical and policy work, as it promotes integrated approaches to economic, social, and environmental challenges. The SDSN is operationalized via secretariats hosted in Paris, New York and New Delhi, and mobilized by national and regional SDSN networks; each convened and coordinated by a national or regional secretariat. Currently there are ten regional and eleven national SDSN networks and 311 member universities. The governance of the SDSN enables leaders from all regions to participate in the running of the network through a global Leadership Council. Why a vision with the university at its core? role of higher education vision of the sdsn northern europe The scientific and academic community has the capacity to appreciate the inherent complexity of the process for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDSN Northern Europe maintains the universality of the SDGs and encourages a paradigm shift where developed countries carry a big part of the global responsibility for implementing the SDGs. Concequently, It can “translate” and localize then SDGs to regional and national contexts, and by initiating dynamic complex relationships (interface) between institutional partners, the private sector and civil society. Therefore, creating transformative and inclusive partnerships is encouraged, with a clear role for science and technology to shape solutions and shared understanding of how policy frameworks and strategies can be harmonized vis-à-vis global goals and targets. In other words, the scientific and academic community can strengthen the enabling environment for integrating action on globally agreed goals across sectors, policy domains and institutions. Interdisciplinary research agendas can bring government, civil society and business together to develop common strategies and solutions, with agreed roles for all. Our vision is to convene higher education, government, industry and civil society to collectively set goals and tackle challenges for sustainable development in line with national and regional priorities and the SDGs.. The SDSN Northern Europe facilitates in-depth multistakeholder cooperation on integrated sustainable development scenarios and solutions that contribute to systemic transformation. Our aim is to enable action that creates engagement and pragmatism, mobilizing knowledge and facilitating implementation. Consequently, the SDSN Northern Europe combines interdisciplinary, intersectorial and participatory approaches to inform and influence the policy process, to strengthen the sciencepolicy interface and shape solutions. It has the ability to generate, adopt and use knowledge, and offers a new way of orchestrating capability and talent, to innovate, produce solutions and services, train and educate. The SDSN Northern Europe forms new models for partnership by communicating best practices and being the driving force for action. It uses innovative ways of financing and promotes increased efficiency in a productive environment, embracing a culture of change and creativity. Added value comes from three objectives: In particular, the SDSN Northern Europe can create an enabeling environment for universities to illustrate and further develop their individual methods, organizational strucutures and thematic focus with respect to contributing to solutions for sustainable development challenges. Drive action: through joint learning and knowledge production, identifying new issues, a strong sciencepolicy interface and real solutions, via back-casting and scenarios. Shape agendas: through priorities in line with localizing the Sustainable Development Goals; facilitating multistakeholder participation and knowledge sharing. Strategic dialogue and communication: through enhanced multistakeholder communication for lessons learned, experiences and knowledge, highlighting interlinkages between stakeholders. Why multistakeholder governance? sdsn northern europe members & partners In order to achieve integrated action and understanding on sustainable development, the SDSN Northern Europe connects stakeholders from the academic and scientific community, industry and government. Our members and partners are responsible leaders and play a key role in shaping the future of their sectors. Members: universities, knowledge centres, national and regional networks and social entrepreneurs in the region. Institutional partners: civil society actors, national departments, financiers, foundations, aid and international organizations that can contribute to the core- and program funding. Growth Industry Partners: sectoral industry partners that contribute to specific program/activity funding, and provide insight into strategic decision-making. Strategic industry partners: industry partners that contribute to our core funding and are a part of the Leadership Council. They believe in the power of multistakeholder interaction and help shape the networks’ regional agenda. governance of the sdsn northern europe The SDSN Northern Europe has a governance structure that promotes transparency, mobilizes resources, facilitates collaboration between members and partners, prioritizes action and ensures the effective operation of the network. It consists of the following: Leadership Council: includes leaders from industry, governmental institutions and the scientific and academic community. The mandate of the Leadership Council is to provide intellectual stewardship, stimulate dialogue, advance the networks’ vision and strategically source and mobilize human and financial resources. Representatives of the Leadership Council will be chosen through a transparent process and prioritized congruent with the networks’ focus. Specific members of the SDSN Northern Europe Leadership Council are co-opted to the Global SDSN Leadership Council, linking the regional SDSN network to the Global SDSN. Network Chair(s): mandated to steer the content and operational direction withing the networks’ focus areas. The Network Chair(s) are co-copted in the Leadership Council. Secretariat: led by the Network chair(s), the Secretariat operationalizes the SDSN Northern Europe. It includes active representatives from industry and institutional partners, academic members, a program manger and project management and communication staff. What are the action & focus areas? sdsn northern europe action areas focus areas for sdsn solutions initiatives Solutions Initiatives: shape, prioritize and implement integrated transformative solutions for sustainable development. These can include new technologies, business models, institutional mechanisms and policies that accelerate sustainable development in Northern Europe and globally. The SDSN Northern Europe will take a systemic, integrated approach to shaping Solutions Initiatives. This will establish the links to create coherence and overcome compartmentalization, allowing transformative solutions to address priorities to achieve systemic change and implement the SDGs. Furthermore, a systemic perspective offers greater flexibility in organizing finance and knowledge throughout the Northern European region. The systemic focus areas are: Deep Decarbonization Pathways: mobilize academia, industry and government in a collaborative initiative for national and regional scenarios for deep decarbonization pathways. Financing: develop an innovative financing facility for sustainable development to frontload multistakeholder funding for solutions initiatives. This includes equity, venture and production capital, industry funding, ODA capital or social investment. Strategic dialogue and policy interface: strategic engagement with national and regional decision-making and policy implementation. Support for institutional and political processes to localize, foster and implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by providing information, analysis and enhanced communication. Education for sustainable development: engage in different activities that promote joint learning and ESD, for example implementing toolboxes that help universities integrate sustainability in their curriculums or promoting massive open online courses. Conferences: host a yearly conference to showcase successes, facilitate dialogues that shape the networks agenda and promote joint learning, that can foster innovative collaborative initiatives. - Energy Systems - Water and Ocean Systems - Urban Systems - Agricultural Systems - Biodiversity Systems - Population Systems - Governance Systems Solutions Initiative will be developed as a thematic group that operates across one or more systems. Thematic groups will engage the leading experts and resources from academia, industry, government and civil society. What does it mean to be a member? key membership practicalities benefits for members Becoming a member of the SDSN Northern Europe is open to all universities and higher education institutions and does not require any financial contribution or fee for participation. Furthermore, all members can take part in all action areas depending on their interests and areas of activity. Active participation will enable members to propose and participate in the implementation of Solutions Initiatives, education and training efforts, including access to online education material, joint research, and policy work with governments. We do also wish for all members to have a sense of ownership and relevance for the SDSN Northern Europe and therefore encourage members to actively take part in the planning of the organizational structures and action areas. There are however some expectations to being a member: Realism and context: Participate in localizing the Sustainable Development Goals to regional and national contexts via a process of joint learning and knowledge production. Guide stakeholders to navigate complexity, prioritize and understand the scale of sustainability challenges and the opportunities they present. Contact points: Members are expected to have an active contact point for communication with the SDSN Northern Europe Secretariat. Education for Sustainable Development: contribute with online education materials and use online resources. University overview: Members are encouraged to provide university profiles that provide an overview of existing projects and initiatives and how each member works for sustainable development. This will aid the Secretariat to coordinate the action areas for the region of Northern Europe. Yearly conference participation: Active members are expected to take part in the conference that the SDSN Northern Europe will host each year, to present academic and programmatic work on sustainable development. Create new or join existing Solutions Initiatives: the SDSN will present findings from Solution Initiatives and share lessons. In this way members can integrate lessons from the initiatives into their own projects and research. Pursue fundraising: mobilize additional resources locally and internationally through the SDSN Northern Europe multistakeholder network, new partnerships and identified priorities and research gaps. Applied research: gain publishing opportunities for applied work in the Global SDSN working papers series. Furthermore, members can take part in Thematic Groups of regional experts and identify research gaps. Positive brand perception: promote brand perception, of member universities, recognized as responsible leaders through communication and media engagement. Strenghten research impact: implement research finding via Solutions Initiatives and venture efforts for impact.. Communication and policy: transpose complexity and highlight policy data, analysis and information through enhanced communication between all stakeholders for policy action. Strenghten the science-policy interface. Partnerships: new multistakeholder partnerships to scale existing- and shape new solutions and mobilize financing. What about deliverables & funding? deliverables 2015 deliverables 2016 FEB Launch event 18-19 Jan 2016 Adoptingpartners JAN Localize SDGs FFSD proposal CoP 21 1-11 Dec Sida workshop 2016 - onwards - Launch Event in January - Yearly SDSN conference in September - Localize the Sustainable Development Goals - Implement two Solutions Initiatives per mandate - Promote two education initiatives per year - Contribute to a stronger science-policy interface - Financing Facility for Sustainable Development - Align the strengths, capacities and expertise of partners and members with priorities. - Facilitate ioint learning and coordination - Shape effective multistakeholder communication DEC Sustainability Atlas proposal funding NOV Adopting members SDG dialogues UN 20 sep - 6 okt OCT WBCSD adopted as regional partner Launch for Webbsite GMV as official SDSN network1 Sep SEP AUG UN Negotiation SDG 20-31 Jul JUL 2015 The SDSN Northern Europe Secretariat recognizes the distinct and complimentary roles played by institutional and government funding. Core- and programmatic funding will be mobilized through partnerships with industry and government. Note that the minimum requirement identified as sufficient to operationalize the Secretariat has been reached. Existing core funding - 7 500 000 sek (GU and Chalmers) New aim for core funding: - 15 000 000 (via industry and institutional partners)
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