UN OWG released final Post-2015 Goals. What Goals Would You Choose?

The United Nations Open Work Group has released their finale outcome document in regard to the Post-2015 goals.  The proposal contains 17 goals and 169 targets.  Currently, the Post-2015 Consensus is drafting our benefit-cost assessment of the following final 17 goals and the targets. 

• Goal 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere
• Goal 2 - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture
• Goal 3 -Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
• Goal 4 -Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all
• Goal 5 -Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Goal 6 - Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
• Goal 7- Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all
• Goal 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Goal 9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
• Goal 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Goal 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Goal 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
• Goal 14 - Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
• Goal 15 -  Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
• Goal 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• Goal 17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

We need to pick the best goals the ones that generate the most benefit. We cannot do everything and we cannot waste our efforts working towards goals that are not smart. So which ones should we choose?

Our assessment will provides information on which targets will do the most social good relative to their costs. Some of the world’s top economists are currently assessing the goals and argets of the final document and categorizing them into one of five following categories, based on economic evidence: 

PHENOMENAL – Robust evidence for benefits more than 15 times higher than costs
GOOD – Robust evidence of benefits between 5 to 15 times higher than costs
FAIR – Robust evidence of benefits between 1 to 5 times higher than costs
POOR – The benefits are smaller than costs or target poorly specified (e.g. internally inconsistent, incentivizes wrong activity)
UNCERTAIN – There is not enough knowledge of the policy options that could reach the target OR the costs and benefits of the actions to reach the target are not well known.

What would you choose? Check back soon for the final benefit-cost assessment.