Towards a joint implementation of the 2030 Agenda/SDGs and the Paris Agreement : conceptual and analytic paper : interim report

To date, processes to implement the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and international climate change mitigation and adaptation obligations are largely disconnected in most countries. This creates administrative overlaps, costs and hampers the development of effective problem solutions. Against this background, the report presents the state of research on policy integration and integrated policy-making. We discuss different understandings of policy integration and elaborate criteria for assessing policy integration from different academic perspectives. With the help of a comprehensive screening of the empirical practices of integration, we identify three approaches: Cognitive capacity development, institutional coordination and joint implementation strategies. In addition, we identify factors that can promote the use of integration mechanisms (“drivers” of integration). These include political leadership, civic participation and deliberation, inputs from science and sustainable finance. For some countries that are particularly successful in both their sustainability and climate policies, we analyse the use of integration mechanisms. For selected countries, the analysis is deepened and linked to the drivers of integration. Finally, we discuss the possibilities for transferring practices and drivers of integration both to Germany and to other countries. The report concludes with conclusions drawn from the extensive empirical surveys.