OWG Proposed Target 17.9
RATING: UNCERTAIN – The Sustainable Development Goals within this document have been rated from PHENOMENAL to POOR, so there is large variance in the benefits and cost profiles of the targets. Attaching a BCR rating to capacity building to implement the SDGs depends on which SDGS are given prominence in implementation. Clearly, a focus on PHENOMENAL or GOOD targets, would lead to a high BCR while a focus on POOR or UNCERTAIN targets would lead to a low BCR. However, target 17.6 suggests that cooperation and knowledge transfer between countries, in a general sense, has very high benefits and low costs.
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In our recent report, not just the target above, but all 169 targets have been assessed by 60 teams of the world’s top economists. The targets have been categorized into five ratings based on evidence of economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits. While we applaud that the UN Open Working Group's final outcome document contains 43 fewer targets than the previous document, we are concerned that many targets have simply been combined, therefore reducing the number of both phenomenal and poor targets assessed according to our cost-benefit analysis. Our new assessment includes suggestions for how these can be improved as reported in this article by the Financial Times.
