CIRSD President Vuk Jeremić joined the Leadership Council of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) at its Fourth Meeting held at Beijing's Tsinghua University on 15-16 May 2014.
The SDSN is one of the most globally influential scientific and technical sources of objective research and advice to UN Member States on the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. The Leadership Council oversees the SDSN's work, and comprises eminent international experts on sustainable development from academia, business, civil society, and the public sector.
SDSN Director and CIRSD Advisory Board member Prof. Jeffrey Sachs stated that "the SDSN is thrilled to welcome Vuk Jeremić to the Leadership Council. Vuk's remarkable leadership as President of the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly put the world on the path to adopt the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a leader of the SDSN, he will continue to help lead the global process to design, adopt, and achieve the SDGs."
The Leadership Council's Fourth Meeting focused on the SDSN's work to help establish universally applicable Sustainable Development Goals, financing mechanisms, and transparent monitoring frameworks. It also examined the SDSN's contributions to the UNFCCC climate negotiations, as well as the SDSN's own pathbreaking Deep Decarbonizing Pathway Project. Sessions were also held on the SDSN's innovative "Online Education for Sustainable Development" program, as well as on the expansion of regional and national SDSNs.
In his presentation to the Leadership Council, Mr. Jeremić emphasized the importance of targeted outreach by the SDSN to world leaders and other top policymakers. "Unless we deepen our involvement with top decisionmakers across the globe and get them to personally engage in creating a new paradigm for human prosperity within sustainable planetary boundaries, all the wealth of scientific knowledge we have at our disposal will come to naught. We need to bridge the gap between the experts and the politicians, and that's what SDSN and CIRSD can help achieve."
Mr. Jeremić attended the SDSN Leadership Council together with CIRSD Senior Fellow Mr. Damjan Krnjević Mišković.
