Igor Makarov Outlines a New Vision for the Sustainable Development Agenda Beyond 2030

Head of the Laboratory for Climate Change Economics at HSE University, Igor Makarov, delivered a lecture titled "Sustainable development beyond 2030: Towards the New Agenda" at the 6th Unicamp International School on Development Challenges in Brazil. In his presentation, he stressed the need to rethink the global sustainable development agenda and to transform existing economic models.

In his lecture, Igor Makarov noted that the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are, to a large extent, an attempt to compensate for the failures of global capitalism. In their present form, he argued, they amount to a kind of utopia, and there is little sense in reproducing them after 2030.

Instead of compensating for the shortcomings of the capitalist system, the global community should focus on its transformation. "We need new models of economic growth," Igor Makarov emphasised.

He pointed out that for the Global South such models are possible only if "outracing thinking" replaces the traditional "catching-up thinking". At the same time, new approaches will require massive investment: in infrastructure, low-carbon technologies, social innovation, and human development.

A crucial precondition for this, Igor Makarov underlined, is the establishment of a new financial architecture capable of ensuring sustainable investment flows. According to Igor Makarov, the core of the new sustainable development agenda beyond 2030 should be the ideas of new growth models and reforms of international finance.