Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 is to “reduce inequality within and among countries.” However, the mounting consensus is that economic growth is not sufficient to reduce poverty, and that efforts to make it more inclusive so far were insufficient.
In a chapter of this book, Transitioning to Reduced Inequalities, four SEI researchers use the lens of SDG 10 to highlight the oft-neglected link between social and environmental inequality.
Photo: Ashley Cooper / Getty Images
SDG 10 is dedicated to reducing inequality. Yet, despite strong and well-documented links between inequality and environmental impacts, SDG 10 does not mention the environment, while more environmentally focused goals address inequality indirectly, if at all.
This raises the question of how a plan to achieve the SDGs taken as a whole should best address relationships between inequality, environmental impacts, and access to environmental resources. In this book chapter, The missing link between inequality and the environment in SDG 10, SEI experts address this question through the lens of three frameworks: climate equity, environmental justice and analysis of distributional impacts.
These frameworks urge a systemic view of inequalities and how they are reinforced and perpetuated, the authors argue. Absent a systems approach, acting on environmentally focused goals can inadvertently exacerbate inequalities. This observation suggests the utility of an “SDG interactions” approach to sustainability policy.
This book, Transitioning to Reduced Inequalities, is part of the Transitioning to Sustainability Series exploring the SDGs in detail.
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