Beyond 2015: Reconciling development and climate change goals

After 15 years as the central international reference for fighting poverty and promoting development, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) will expire in 2015. The international community is seeking a new global development framework through two parallel tracks: the MDG review — led by the UN Secretary General — and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) process launched by the Rio+20 conference. There are important overlaps between these tracks and growing calls for the processes to be integrated into a single overarching framework and set of goals to eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development after 2015. Despite these calls — also made by the EU — there have been very few concrete proposals for accomplishing the integration in a practical manner. Following the UN Special Event on the MDGs that will take place on 25 September 2013, various possible integration mechanisms could be adopted. In this context, the Open Working Group (OWG) on the SDG, established this year by the United Nations General Assembly, occupies a central role with a growing importance.