The Political Effects of Sustainable Development Goals on Sustainable Consumption and Production Efforts of United Nations Environment Programme
Summary
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), renowned for its leadership in global environmental governance, has actively promoted sustainable consumption and production (SCP) initiatives. In 2016, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched, with SDG 12 focusing on SCP patterns, which stands as one of the pivotal pillars within this framework. Despite this, the effectiveness of SDG 12 and its impact on advancing UNEP’s role in the global SCP framework remains unclear. Therefore, this research investigated the extent and manner in which the launch of SDG 12 influences UNEP’s SCP-related discourse, norms, and institutions. The study included an extensive document analysis and quantitative text analysis of 74 UNEP documents, websites, speeches, and resolutions to identify evolving trends in UNEP's political actions. Additionally, 11 semi-structured interviews provided deeper insights into the causal mechanisms between SDG 12 and UNEP’s SCP-related discourse, norms, and institutions. The findings revealed that UNEP experiences steering effects on three dimensions, with discursive and normative effects being more pronounced than institutional effects. At the discursive level, SDG 12 provides UNEP with a new common language, collective motivation, and standardized discourse. At the normative level, SDG 12 legitimizes UNEP's initial SCP-related efforts and garnered more stakeholder support, especially from Member States. The study also highlights the limitations of SDG 12 and the established SCP-related institutions within UNEP, which impede further institutional effects. These results enrich the theoretical framework of global governance studies, particularly regarding the political impact of SDGs on international organizations. Additionally, monitoring the effects of SDG 12 could aid in tracking progress and developing alternative tools or political interventions before the 2030 deadline.