Bulgaria and Croatia
Open-Working Group on
Sustainable Development Goals
11th Meeting
Economic growth, employment and infrastructure
Energy
I have the honor to make this intervention on behalf of Croatia and Bulgaria
Bulgaria and Croatia believe that we need to have a stand alone goal on economic growth, growth that reduces inequalities by distributing opportunities and gains across society; growth that generates employment and that is driven by inclusiveness, accountable public institutions and respect for human rights; and growth that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. A key priority is to promote growth which creates decent jobs, shared prosperity and is achieved with increased resource efficiency within planetary boundaries. Therefore patterns and quality of growth matter. In that sense, we propose the title to be ' Sustainable and inclusive economic growth', which then needs to be reflected through all the targets. We wecome the references to protection of the rights of all workers and we welcome the link with the ILO fundamental rights at work and strongly support the incluson of the issues of access to decent work and youth employment. We also believe that this goal should cover areas as industrialization, infrastructure and job creation, including green jobs and decent work for all.
We see possible targets as follows:
- To make sure that the growth is inclusive and it reduces poverty and inequality we have to pay special attention to youth unemployment, participation of women in the labor force, elimination of gender-based and other forms of labor market discrimination, including against persons with disabilities, migrants and others, providing support for medium- and small-sized enterprises, ensuring education for all. In this sense we would like to replace target b with the following: By 2030 achieve full and productive employment, including through elimination of the barriers to productive employment for women, young people and people with disabilities”. We also support target e from the co-chairs’ document, but would like to add “creativity” after entrepreneurship. So it will read ……
- If we really want to ensure sustainable and inclusive economic growth, our two countries are of the view that we need to include the industrialization, including knowleage-based industries, cultural and creative industries, intensifying and modernizing the agricultural sector, infrastructure and transport. In this regard we support targets d, f and g from the co-chairs’ document. We would like to propose an amendment to target f so it will read “increase the share of high productivity sectors and creative (activities) industries in the economy,…”. We would like also to propose a new target, namely “By 2030 increase the diversification of local economies and in public and community ownership, management, and governance of local economies” .
- Bulgaria and Croatia are of the view that the environmental dimension is missing from the proposed targets under the goal of economic growth. In order to have a sustainable economic growth we need to reduce the environmental stress, including through environmental standards. In this sense we would like to add here target e which is currently under the focus area of industrialization and which reads “By 2030 increase by x% the resource-efficiency of industry, reduce by y% harmful chemicals used and waste generated, and decrease by z% the intensity of carbon emissions from the industrial sector”.since these make important interlinkeages with other areas like climate change, energy and sustainable consumption and production.
We see Corporate Social Responsibility as a tool for achieving SDGs ant therefore we would like to include the following target: Enhancing reporting and transparency on financial, social and environmental impact of the economic growth.
Energy. Energy has a crucial role in development process and at the same time energy security is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century, since it may affect various interests as well as global stability. By addressing energy issues we would help address most of the global challenges we face today: poverty eradication, food security, clean water, public health, education, inclusive and equitable economic growth, climate change, improve our energy security and form the basis of a future low-carbon economy.
- To achieve all this we need target that will help establish universal energy access. In this sense we support the target a from the co-chair's document.
- When elaborating on the post 2015 development agenda we need to take into account the impacts that the energy policy has on natural resources and related climate change concerns. We need to think how energy production can be made more sustainable. We beleive that it is time for setting basis of a future low-carbon economy. In this regard, Bulgaria and Croatia find of utmost importance the necessity of increasing the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency. We support the targets b, c, d and e from the co-chairs' document.
Sustainable Development Goals
11th Meeting
Economic growth, employment and infrastructure
Energy
I have the honor to make this intervention on behalf of Croatia and Bulgaria
Bulgaria and Croatia believe that we need to have a stand alone goal on economic growth, growth that reduces inequalities by distributing opportunities and gains across society; growth that generates employment and that is driven by inclusiveness, accountable public institutions and respect for human rights; and growth that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. A key priority is to promote growth which creates decent jobs, shared prosperity and is achieved with increased resource efficiency within planetary boundaries. Therefore patterns and quality of growth matter. In that sense, we propose the title to be ' Sustainable and inclusive economic growth', which then needs to be reflected through all the targets. We wecome the references to protection of the rights of all workers and we welcome the link with the ILO fundamental rights at work and strongly support the incluson of the issues of access to decent work and youth employment. We also believe that this goal should cover areas as industrialization, infrastructure and job creation, including green jobs and decent work for all.
We see possible targets as follows:
- To make sure that the growth is inclusive and it reduces poverty and inequality we have to pay special attention to youth unemployment, participation of women in the labor force, elimination of gender-based and other forms of labor market discrimination, including against persons with disabilities, migrants and others, providing support for medium- and small-sized enterprises, ensuring education for all. In this sense we would like to replace target b with the following: By 2030 achieve full and productive employment, including through elimination of the barriers to productive employment for women, young people and people with disabilities”. We also support target e from the co-chairs’ document, but would like to add “creativity” after entrepreneurship. So it will read ……
- If we really want to ensure sustainable and inclusive economic growth, our two countries are of the view that we need to include the industrialization, including knowleage-based industries, cultural and creative industries, intensifying and modernizing the agricultural sector, infrastructure and transport. In this regard we support targets d, f and g from the co-chairs’ document. We would like to propose an amendment to target f so it will read “increase the share of high productivity sectors and creative (activities) industries in the economy,…”. We would like also to propose a new target, namely “By 2030 increase the diversification of local economies and in public and community ownership, management, and governance of local economies” .
- Bulgaria and Croatia are of the view that the environmental dimension is missing from the proposed targets under the goal of economic growth. In order to have a sustainable economic growth we need to reduce the environmental stress, including through environmental standards. In this sense we would like to add here target e which is currently under the focus area of industrialization and which reads “By 2030 increase by x% the resource-efficiency of industry, reduce by y% harmful chemicals used and waste generated, and decrease by z% the intensity of carbon emissions from the industrial sector”.since these make important interlinkeages with other areas like climate change, energy and sustainable consumption and production.
We see Corporate Social Responsibility as a tool for achieving SDGs ant therefore we would like to include the following target: Enhancing reporting and transparency on financial, social and environmental impact of the economic growth.
Energy. Energy has a crucial role in development process and at the same time energy security is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century, since it may affect various interests as well as global stability. By addressing energy issues we would help address most of the global challenges we face today: poverty eradication, food security, clean water, public health, education, inclusive and equitable economic growth, climate change, improve our energy security and form the basis of a future low-carbon economy.
- To achieve all this we need target that will help establish universal energy access. In this sense we support the target a from the co-chair's document.
- When elaborating on the post 2015 development agenda we need to take into account the impacts that the energy policy has on natural resources and related climate change concerns. We need to think how energy production can be made more sustainable. We beleive that it is time for setting basis of a future low-carbon economy. In this regard, Bulgaria and Croatia find of utmost importance the necessity of increasing the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency. We support the targets b, c, d and e from the co-chairs' document.