4.3 Insights for knowledge, policy and governance towards sustainability


4.3.1 Inter-linkages between outlooks


Policy makers and scientists have historically treated thematic issues such as biota, energy, water and air separately, with governance and research in discipline-specific and isolated silos. There is increasing understanding of how all these elements are connected, and of how introducing solutions in one domain can have likely problematic consequences elsewhere. The nexus approach to dealing with multiple issues with common features and points of intersection is gaining traction as a way to deal with interconnected challenges (Hoff 2011). The pan-European region is, however, far away from putting in place governance mechanisms that are commensurate with the interconnected sustainability challenges the region faces.


Looking across the outlooks discussed in this section leads to a number of core insights:


• The connected nature of the areas and challenges requires pan-European policy-makers to go beyond isolated solutions and consider natural resource use reductions and decoupling in absolute terms. Because of trade, the impacts of pan-European material consumption reach beyond the region’s borders, and are felt where resources are extracted and processed.


• Intervention in some areas, such as land-use, ecosystem conservation, and climate change, are crucial because such changes lead to cumulative effects in different areas.


• In order to activate synergies in the alternative projections, solutions beyond those that take place in some areas of the pan-European economy are needed.


• Some technological solutions, including some forms of renewable energy and high-performance instruments that might reduce natural resource use, may have undesired socio-environmental outcomes, as in the case


of conflict minerals. At the same time, the pan-European region’s reliance on external players in terms of energy and natural resource supply and the trade-offs involved may have implications for security of supply.


• Policies will need to prioritise lifestyle changes and efficiency measures, reductions in emissions at their source and emerging risks including newly identified health effects.


• In an alternative projection to meet relevant goals, there might be a reconfiguration of the idea of nature, both in rural and urban environments. This does not come free from tension, which may arise owing to transaction costs and the demands of the social innovation required to downscale natural resource use. Lifestyle changes will be needed in order to decrease resource use and resource extraction rates.


• Synergies operate hand-in-hand with institutional development and the reinforcement of deliberative decision- and policy-making processes. New institutions or better functioning ones are needed to take these synergies and tensions into account and design approaches to deal with them effectively.


How the countries of the region choose to address environmental issues at the global and at the national levels will have a significant effect on the sustainability and stability of the region as a whole. As historically demonstrated through its response to past challenges, such as acid rain or stratospheric ozone depletion, the countries in the pan-European region are capable of addressing common, complex environmental challenges and thereby steering away from much costlier and potentially catastrophic consequences.


4.3.2 Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development


Taken together, if well implemented, the SDGs with the UNFCCC Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework offer a coherent package for sustainable development to 2030-


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Chapter 4: Outlooks and Emerging Issues


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