International Growth Centre public lecture

The Age of Sustainable Development

Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs
Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development,
Professor of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University
Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General on Millennium Development Goals

Dr Jonathan Leape
Chair, LSE
Suggested hashtag for Twitter users: #LSESachs

THEAGEOFSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT
JEFFREYD.SACHS
InternationalGrowthCentre
LondonSchoolofEconomics
4February2015

TheAnthropocene:
ItsAllAboutScale

JamesWattsEngine:
MostSignificantInventionofModernHistory

GrossWorldOutput

GrossWorldProductperCapita

HumanPopulationintheHolocene

SIXTHWAVESHOULDBESUSTAINBLEGROWTHBUILTONDIGITALREVOLUTION

THEINFORMATIONAGE
(TRANSISTORCOUNTONINTELMICROPROCESSORS)
XEONPHI
5.0B

5,000,000,000
4,500,000,000
4,000,000,000
3,500,000,000
3,000,000,000
2,500,000,000
2,000,000,000
1,500,000,000
1,000,000,000
500,000,000

INTEL4004
2.3K

0
1971 1972 1974 1976 1978 1979 1982 1985 1989 1993 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2008 2010 2011 2012

2013

2011

2009

2007

2005

2003

2001

1999

1997

1995

1993

1991

1989

1987

1985

1983

1981

1979

1977

1975

1973

1971

1969

1967

1965

1963

1961

1959

1957

1955

1953

1951

1949

1947

MobileSubscribersWorldwide,Billions

Shenzhen,1980

Shenzhen,2013

AWORLDINFLUX
1. GLOBALSCALEPRODUCTIONSYSTEMS
2. RAPIDICTENABLEDTECHNOLOGICALCHANGE
3. RAPIDPOPULATIONGROWTHINAFRICAANDSOUTH
ASIAANDAGINGINTHEHIGHINCOMECOUNTRIES
4. WORLDWIDEDECLINEOFMIDDLESKILLEDJOBS
5. EXTREMEENVIRONMENTALCRISES
6. ECONOMICANDGEOPOLITICALMULTIPOLARITY

PROGRESSDURINGTHEMDGERA

YETECONOMICGROWTHANDPOVERTY
REDUCTIONAREHAMPEREDBYTHREE
LARGEHURDLES:
GROWINGINCOMEINEQUALITYAND
SOCIALEXCLUSION
CONTINUEDRAPIDPOPULATIONGROWTH
GROWINGENVIRONMENTALCRISES

GINICOEFFICIENTINUS,19682010

SOURCE:USCONGRESSIONALRESEARCHSERVICE2012

GINICOEFFICIENTINCHINA,19812012

Tunis, January 2011

Cairo, January 2011

Athens July 2011

Tel Aviv, August 2011

Chile, August 2011

New York City, November 2011

Madrid, September 2012

Istanbul, June 2013

Rio de Janeiro, June 2013

PERSISTENCEOFHIGHFERTILITYINAFRICA

PLANETARYBOUNDARIES

Source:Rockstrmetal2009a)

JAGUARYDAM,SAOPAULOSTATE,JANUARY2014

SUMATRAFORESTFIRES,MARCH2014

BOSNIA,May162014

HIROSHIMAFLOODS,AUGUST2014

STEVENSCREEKRESERVOIR,MAY2014

CURRENTDROUGHTRISKMAP,OCTOBER2014

INSETFORTHEMIDDLEEASTANDWESTASIA

http://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/smcd/emb/v
ci/VH/vh_browse.php

2014:WarmestYearonInstrumentRecord

Sustainable Development as a Framework

for Action
Sustainable Development is the Holistic
Integration of Economic, Social, and
Environmental Objectives in an Approach
to Scientific Analysis, Governance,
Problem Solving, and Human Action
The UN Member States are now negotiating
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to
be adopted in September 2015

2015istheDecisiveYearforSetting
SustainableDevelopmentGoals
FinancingforSustainableDevelopment(Addis
Ababa,July2015)
SustainableDevelopmentGoals
(UNHQ,September2015)
ClimateChangeAgreementatCOP21
(Paris,December2015)

SDGPRIORITIES
(CONSOLIDATINGTHE17STATEDPRIORITIES
OFTHEUNGENERALASSEMBLY)
1. ENDPOVERTYANDHUNGER
2. HEALTHFORALL
3. EDUCATIONFORALL
4. REDUCEECONOMICINEQUALITIES;ENDGENDERINEQUALITIES
5. SUSTAINABLEGROWTHANDDECENTJOBS
6. SUSTAINABLEINFRASTRUCTURE
7. SUSTAINABLECITIES
8. STOPHUMANINDUCEDCLIMATECHANGE
9.CONSERVEMARINEANDTERRESTIALECOSYSTEMS
10.GOODGOVERNANCEANDGLOBALPARTNERSHIPS

ChallengestoMeettheSustainable
Development:
RapidTechnologicalTransformation
EquityinSocialServiceProvision
CommunityProtectionofNaturalResources
StrengtheningofLocalGovernance
SharingWork,Learning,andLeisure
RestrainingArbitraryCorporatePower
ResponsibleinvestingandFinancialMarkets
ReDemocratizingOurDemocracies
IdentifyingSharedGlobalValues

CRITICALSUSTAINBLESYSTEMSPRIORITIES:
SUSTAINABLEENERGYSYSTEMS
SUSTAINABLEAGRICULTUREANDNUTRITION
SUSTAINABLEURBANIZATION(SMARTCITIES)
WILLNEEDTECHNOLOGICALBREAKTHROUGHS

NEEDNEWGLOBALPUBLICPRIVATEPARTNERSHIPS
(PPPs)FORSUSTAINABLETECHNOLOGIES:
LOWCARBONENERGYSYSTEMS
RESILIENTANDSUSTAINBLEAGRICULTURE
SMARTICTENABLEDURBANSYSTEMS
ICTENABLEDHEALTH,EDUCATION,GOVERNANCE

EXAMPLESOFDIRECTEDSCIENCEAND
TECHNOLOGY:
VACCINES,MEDICINES,ANDDIAGNOSTICS
RADAR
CRYPTOGRAPHY
NUCLEARENERGY
COMPUTING
SEMICONDUCTORS
SATELLITESANDSPACESCIENCE
INTERNET
HUMANGENOMEPROJECT
HIGGSBOSON(CERN)
BRAININITIATIVE

HALVINGOFCOSTROUGHLYEVERYNINEMONTHS

BAU:
46degreeC

2degreeC

MainDecarbonizationStrategies
Decarbonizationof
Electricity

KeyMetricof
Transformation

Strategy

EnergyEfficiency
EnergyEfficiency

EndUseFuelSwitching
toElectricSources

2014

2014

2014

2050

2050

2050

0.0

5.0

10.0

Energy Intensity of GDP

(GJ/$2005)

200

400

600

Electricity Emissions
Intensity (gCO2/kWh)

0% 25% 50% 75%

Share of Electricity and
Electric Fuels
in Total Final Energy (%)

THEWORLDWILLNEEDTOSTRANDOIL,GAS,
ANDCOALRESERVES

FROMMcGLADEANDEKINS,NATUREMAGAZINE,JANUARY8,2015

1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012

SolarPV:AnnualandCumulativeProduction(MW)

140,000

120,000

100,000

80,000

Production

60,000

Cumulative

40,000

20,000

KEYROLESOFSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENTDISCIPLINES
(1)UnderstandingMechanisms:climate,biodiversity,economic
dynamics
(2)MonitoringandmappingEarthsystemstates
(3)Developingintegratedphysicalhumansystemsforthegreen
economy
(4)Assistingdirectedtechnologicalchangee.g.deep
decarbonization,ICTbasedhealthandeducation,sustainable
agriculture,smartcities
(5)Leadingpublicanduniversityeducation,andbuildingashared
globalframeworkforaction

SomeRecentAlliancesfor
SustainableDevelopment

EarthLeague
UNSDSN
SDSN.Edu andMDP
DDPP
PPPsforLowCarbonTechnology

International Growth Centre public lecture

The Age of Sustainable Development

Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs
Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development,
Professor of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University
Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General on Millennium Development Goals

Dr Jonathan Leape
Chair, LSE
Suggested hashtag for Twitter users: #LSESachs