Research Paper
Article citation: Sinha, A., Destek, M. A., & Lorente, D. B. (2024). Preface to Special Issue on “Evaluation of Policy Conflicts Towards Sustainable Development Goals”—II. Evaluation Review, 48(1), 3-6.
Abstract
Harmonizing economic, social, and environmental policy objectives of a nation takes the form of sustainable development. This policy-level harmonization ensures maintaining inter-generational equity within the nation (Asheim, 2010). Achieving this objective entails balancing the tradeoffs at several levels, and those are the critical areas of policy conflict in the sustainable development discourse. The discontinuation of the Millennium Development Goals and initiation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) have shown the world how to take a multidimensional approach towards minimizing the conflicts and tradeoffs. Now, the challenge lies with how the nations approach towards attaining the SDG objectives. The diversity in the approaches taken by the nations makes it difficult to develop any benchmark policy design at the global level. This divergence also adds to the ongoing policy conflict in the SDG attainment objectives, and the cooperation among nations is becoming even more difficult owing to this scenario.
Although the policy discourse has shown evidence in support of the conflict, the academic discourse around sustainable development has been very rich. However, the major problem with academic discourse has always been the lack of convergence in the outcomes. That can be one of the possible reasons behind the absence of a global policy framework to address the ongoing policy conflicts in the sustainable development domain. The myopic orientation of the policymakers towards the SDG implementation makes it difficult for a nation to create a benchmark. This policy myopia can be addressed by taking a multidisciplinary approach to achieve the SDGs while focusing on creating the positive spillover effects across the various developmental dimensions. Taking a multidisciplinary approach might have far-reaching consequences on the policy dimensions of the other nations. The discussions initiated in the first part of this special issue on “Evaluation of Policy Conflicts towards Sustainable Development Goals” by Sinha et al. (2023) have focused on the multidisciplinary nature of the policy intents. This part of the same special issue is a continuation of those discussions.
Access to electricity and light is a major determinant of the sustainable development of any major economy. Nevertheless, this access comes at the cost of environmental quality. The energy consumed for lighting the villages and cities requires consumption of fossil fuels, and it causes a rise in ambient emissions. The study by Yu et al. (2023) looked into this problem by decomposing the energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission pattern in China at the sectoral level. The findings of the study have helped in recommending policy initiatives to inculcate technological innovation in the priority industrial sectors. Now, boosting the innovations for achieving carbon neutrality is to aim at encouraging green technological innovation. It requires channeling the human and financial capitals in a target way. The study by Zhou et al. (2023) has shown that channeling the investments in promoting higher education is a primary step towards boosting green technological innovations in China. The study also found that impact of financial development on green technological innovations is nonlinearly conditional upon the degree of higher education. This can help the Chinese policymakers in recognizing the targeted educational segments for developing a bottom-up policy design approach for promoting green innovation. This technological innovation needs to result in innovations at the product level. Digital infrastructure of the economy plays a major role in catalyzing this process. The study by Bai et al. (2023) focuses on this particular aspect. The results obtained from the study show that the technological innovations play a significant role in the product innovation process in China, and it in turn helps to ascertain business sustainability. Now, having a sustained flow of investment is necessary to develop the domestic innovation capabilities. Yet, vulnerability of the investment climate to external factors might play as a deterrent to this scenario. The study by Y?ld?r?m et al. (2023) shows that the shocks to productivity have a direct effect on the investment hysteresis in Turkey. The policymakers need to be mindful of the factors responsible for productivity shocks and the need to internalize these shocks for safeguarding the business sustainability within the economy. Once these factors are taken care of, industrial growth might be assumed. This growth pattern needs to be environmentally and socially sustainable, and it largely depends on the energy source being used in the production process. This problem is more prevalent in the emerging economies, and the study by Ulucak et al. (2023) discusses this particular aspect. The outcomes of the study show that while the renewable energy consumption is highly encouraged for reducing the consumption-based carbon dioxide emissions in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), income inequality might have a detrimental role in limiting the environmental impact of renewable energy. This study shows how the social and environmental objectives of a nation can be at conflict, and the authors have recommended a policy design to address this conflict. Nevertheless, this study assumed a linear association between renewable energy and emissions, and this assumption might be idealistic. In reality, the association might be nonlinear, and thereby, adding to the complications to the policy design. The study by Erdo?an et al. (2023) shows that renewable energy has a nonlinear impact on carbon dioxide emissions in Canada. The presence of such a nonlinear association can be a problem for the policymakers, and the downward trend of renewable energy consumption might be a policy concern, especially for a developed economy. Lastly, discussion on sustainable development might remain incomplete without bringing in discussions on health aspects. The outbreak of COVID-19 has been a major roadblock on the way to implement sustainable development, as it impacted various sectors differently. This scenario has been holistically analyzed by Mahendru et al. (2023). The review carried out by the authors have shown the health predicaments brought forth by the COVID-19 outbreak had a severe impact on the tourism and hospitality industry, and the negative impact has been largely experienced in terms of the slump in the job creation in this sector. Moreover, the consumption pattern of the people associated with this sector was also affected.
The concerns discussed in this part of the special issue have focused on multifaceted areas of sustainable development. In doing so, the studies have brought forth several areas of policy conflict. It is a continuation of the discussion initiated in the first part of the special issue. We sincerely expect that the myopic global policy around sustainable development might take the necessary cues from these studies, and the policymakers might work upon the implicative guidelines to attain sustainable development in the near future.