How policymakers and other leaders can build a more sustainable post-COVID-19 ‘normal’
Open accessAbstract
The UN 2030 Agenda’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the COVID-19 pandemic share two important characteristics. They are global challenges that if not met, pose risks to all citizens. Furthermore, responses need to be system-level, rather than sectoral. COVID-19 has illuminated three complementary, compelling actions that can address these challenges—work across silos; visibly use science in policy; and harness simultaneous global interruption to habits. This commentary describes these using worked examples and suggests actions for policymakers and other leaders. Acknowledging that the full SDG agenda is of much broader multidimensional scope than the COVID-19 pandemic, the SDG examples focus on environmental sustainability.
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
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- Authors
- Bragge, P., Becker, U., Breu, T., Carlsen, H., Griggs, D., Lavis, J. N., Zimm, C., & Stevance, A.-S.
- Affiliations
- Monash University (AU)
- Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (DE)
- University of Bern (CH)
- Stockholm Environment Institute (SE)
- McMaster University (CA)
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (AT)
- International Science Council (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Bragge, Peter
- ORCID
- Venue
- Discover Sustainability
- Published
- 2022-02-17
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 7-7
- ISSN
- 2662-9984 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8853160
- OpenAlex
- W4212922332
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5
- FWCI
- 2.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Discover Sustainability (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- IIASA PURE (International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis) (acceptedVersion)
- Monash University Research Portal (Monash University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- BORIS (University Library Bern) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Legal, Health, Environmental and COVID-19 Challenges
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Sustainable Development and Environmental Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate Change and Sustainable Development
- Keywords
- Sustainable Development Goals, COVID-19 pandemic, post-pandemic recovery, environmental sustainability, intersectoral collaboration, global challenges, policy leadership, habit change
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