From summits to solutions: Innovations in implementing the sustainable development goals

As policymakers, scientists, business and civic leaders, and others meet to take stock of progress towards the sustainable development goals (SDGs) at the UN’s High Level Political Forum, the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings is hosting the D.C. launch of “From Summits to Solutions: Innovations in Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.”

The book is a collaborative effort with the Japan International Cooperation Agency to identify where we need to reach beyond what has simply worked in the past. The volume draws attention to the emerging challenges of engaging new actors with new approaches. It covers topics ranging from the role of businesses in supporting the SDGs, to how advanced economies can tackle the goals, to reforms that expand women’s opportunities, and many other innovations that are needed to overcome inertia and break through bureaucratic and political hurdles stalling progress.

On July 18, several of the book’s contributors discussed the big ideas that would lead to a departure from business-as-usual and avoid an unsustainable, crowded, brutish future for the world.