Summary

The journal article examines COVID-19 pandemic-driven changes in society as a way of exemplifying three actions to address global challenges: work across silos, visibly use science in policy and harness simultaneous global interruption to habits.

Key messages

There can be three complementary and compelling actions taken by policymakers to address the risks of not meeting the UN 2030 Agenda’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• Coordinating a collective response across multiple fields including science, business, health, social sciences and technology instead of working in silos. Actions can include facilitating a shared understanding of problems and solutions, and tying stimulus measures to green commitments in states’ budget.
• Keeping to visibly integrate scientific and other knowledge from different professions (for example business, logistics, manufacturing) in public policy in the long term in support of realization of the 2030 Agenda. An example could be using science in policy and decision-making can be found when personal location data and COVID-19 status supported mapping the virus.
• Taking the opportunity of harnessing population-wide disruption of work, social and other routines, to embed SDG-friendly habits globally. For instance, COVID-19 enabled the reallocation of street space to pedestrians and cyclists, reducing emissions and enhancing health.

Conclusion

Authors argue that the potential return on investment from working across sectors outweighs that for working within sectoral boundaries when it comes to addressing the global SDG and COVID challenges. In addition, researchers provide examples of how using citizen science to support decision-making in a visible way and taking advantage of the global disruption of habits can assist in shifting to more sustainable lifestyles.

Citation

Bragge, P., Becker, U., Breu, T. et al. How policymakers and other leaders can build a more sustainable post-COVID-19 ‘normal’. Discov Sustain 3, 7 (2022).