The Nordic Council of Ministers is launching a new collaborative program titled Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges. The program is a response to many of the most pressing issues specified in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The initiative, planned in co-operation with Gaia Consulting, will focus on five flagship projects drawing on Nordic core competencies.
Agenda 2030 signals a shift to a more universal understanding of joint global challenges, also echoed in the Paris Agreement reached at COP21 in December 2015 that recognizes the need of all nations as well as all actors jointly (including private, public, civil society) to address the climate challenge.
The Nordic Strategy for Sustainable Development was the first macro-regional strategy of its kind in the world and sustainable development has long been a core aspect of the Nordic co-operation.
Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges will promote joint Nordic efforts that contribute to meeting the global demand for solutions to the world’s major challenges. It comprises five flagship projects in three categories: Nordic Green, Nordic Food and Welfare and Nordic Gender Effect, each based on different Nordic core competencies.
The Nordic countries have been assessed as among the top most “SDG-ready” countries in the world. Despite progress, Agenda 2030 will clearly still pose a challenge and require further work in Nordic countries – and even more so globally.
”The objective of the new initiative is to promote good examples of Nordic solutions to the global challenges and achieve the UN’s new global Sustainable Development Goals”, Dagfinn Høybråten, the Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers, says on the Council’s website.
In addition, Gaia and Stockholm Environment Institute are currently co-operating with the Nordic Council of Ministers on a new sustainable development program, aimed at implementing the 2030 Agenda. The program is to be based on extensive stakeholder engagement, and will involve both public and private actors and civil society.
Gaia’s work with the Nordic Council of Ministers is an example of the increasing emphasis Gaia is placing on Nordic co-operation. Another example is the fact that Gaia has recently established a presence in Gothenburg, Sweden.
More information
- Mikko Halonen, Leading Consultant, +358 40 700 2190, firstname.lastname@gaia.fi
- Susanna Sepponen, Senior Consultant, +358 40 138 0067, firstname.lastname@gaia.fi
