ABSTRACT
In September 2015 at theUnitedNations Sustainable Development Summit, 193 countries unanimously adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a framework for shared action “for people, planet and prosperity.” The agenda includes 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030.1 The SDGs promise economic growth that is simultaneously equitable and environmentally sustainable. Promise, however, is far removed from realization. A potential danger is that the SDGs end up as a foil to counter-attacks on the dominant mode of development rooted in capital accumulation and guided by the mantra of market efficiency. The example of a previous attempt from the 1990s, the global Agenda 21 for sustainable development, is a grim reminder of our collective failure to advance a transformative development agenda. In this brief essay, I argue that realizing the SDGs requires planning in the tradition of John Friedmann: as a skilful weaving of the “unity of opposites” (1987), and morally driven while not succumbing to dogmas.
