Sustainability

Research topics can sometimes be very specific and narrow, or they may not be immediately recognisable in the wider context. If you are working on an algorithm, it might be difficult to instantly point out how that helps tackle global challenges like poverty or inequality. For young researchers, it might even be difficult to recognise their role in a bigger research project led by a professor and a big team, often with multiple partners from different countries and organisations, where work is divided into work packages and one researcher may only work a very specific subtask. That is why it is important that researchers are familiar with the overall research plan and aims of the project, and the strategies and priorities of their:

• Research unit
• Faculty
• Focus area/profiling activity
• University

When these outline how research is positioned in relation to the global challenges - such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals - in a meaningful way, it is easier for researchers to define their role in the big picture. The scientific community has its own priorities and hot topics which are subject to peer-review and debates in different forums such as conferences and journals. Some topics or approaches may take priority in the given field until they are questioned, revised or even abandoned, and a paradigm shift takes place. A researcher's work is in turn influenced by these processes.

On an institutional level, a researcher is a member of faculty, university (or a research institute), which in turn are a part of society at large. In countries like Finland where universities are primarily publicly funded, taxpayers have an invested interest in what they do.

That means that elected officials who make decisions on funding will channel tax money into national priorities. And many of those national priorities are issues that derive from the EU, or globally recognised trends that affect us all. In short, research is never conducted in a vacuum: the scientific community is impacted by several policies concerning local and national as well as European and global priorities.

The United Nations’ member states signed in 2015 the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) mentioned in the Agenda were forged to tackle global challenges. Global challenges are linked with global change-related phenomena also known as megatrends.

Megatrends

Recognising the link between one's research and UN SDGs is one way of finding out what kind of societal impact research has. Societal impact in general is closely linked to recognised global trends and challenges. Research funders are also keen on aligning their top-down funding calls to tackle current grand challenges. Megatrends are change-related phenomena and transformative, global forces that define the future world with their far-reaching impacts on businesses, societies, economies, cultures, and personal lives. SITRA (The Finnish Innovation Fund) provides its own list of megatrends (2023). They describe the big picture of change through five themes: nature, people, power, technology and the economy:

• Nature’s carrying capacity is being eroded.
• Challenges to well-being are increasing.
• The battle for democracy is intensifying.
• The competition for digital power is intensifying.
• Cracks are showing in the foundations of the economy.

Agenda 2030

Generally, climate change is probably the most topical megatrend, but also other phenomena such as population growth, increasing environmental pollution or global competition for resources can be recognised as megatrends. Megatrends are thus global challenges and the United Nations have responded to these challenges by signing Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. The Agenda 2030 is an action plan how to advance the UN SDGs and it is formed around 5 Ps:

People: “We are determined to end poverty and hunger, in all their forms and dimensions, and to ensure that all human beings can fulfil their potential in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment.”

Planet: “We are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations.”

Prosperity: “We are determined to ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives and that economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature.”

Peace: “We are determined to foster peaceful, just and inclusive societies which are free from fear and violence. There can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development.”

Partnership: “We are determined to mobilize the means required to implement this Agenda through a revitalised Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, based on a spirit of strengthened global solidarity, focussed in particular on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable and with the participation of all countries, all stakeholders and all people.”

The UN has recognised 17 sustainable development goals as a part of Agenda 2030 to tackle current global challenges, and research plays a pivotal role in reaching them. In research funding, priority is given to projects that advance the achievement of the goals.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals aim to tackle current global challenges such as climate change, rising inequalities, population growth and global competition for resources. They aim at ending poverty and hunger, ensuring healthy lives and well-being, quality education and decent work, sustainable consumption and sustainable cities. They promote inclusive societies and ensure access to clean water and energy to everyone. Each of the 17 goals has a set of targets that are being monitored by quantitative indicators.

The UN Global Sustainable Development Report 2019 introduced six cross-cutting factors (“entry-points”) which concern all the SDGs and should be considered in all activities aiming to fulfil the SDGs. The advancement of one goal may advance other goals but may also have adverse effects on others, this is why a more comprehensive approach is necessary. For example placing a base station to remote areas may well advance good health, quality education and equality by providing access to remote education and basic services, it may however lead to biodiversity loss and other damages.

The entry points are:

• Strengthening human well-being and capabilities
• Shifting towards sustainable and just economies
• Building sustainable food systems and healthy nutrition patterns
• Achieving energy decarbonization and universal access to energy
• Promoting sustainable urban and peri-urban development
• Securing the global environmental commons

In the Horizon Europe funding programme, applicants are expected also to consider, where relevant, how the project methodology complies with the ‘do no significant harm’ principle. This means that the methodology should be designed in a manner which is not significantly harming any of the six environmental objectives of the EU Taxonomy Regulation (see below). The EU sees, that the solving of climate change must not come at the expense of other environmental objectives.

The Horizon Europe work programme has been designed to support research and innovation activities that respect climate and environmental priorities of the Union and cause no significant harm to them. Nevertheless, at project level, the reference to the DNSH principle in the Horizon Europe Work Programme is included in the application form (proposal part B template) so that researchers have the possibility to present the credential of their projects in relation to the DNSH principle.

Compliance needs to be assessed both for activities carried out during the course of the project as well as the expected life cycle impact of the innovation at a commercialization stage (where relevant). Commission expects that especially researchers planning activities in Clusters 4, 5, and 6 give the DNSH principle due consideration because of the increased potential of negative environmental outcomes and impacts of projects.

Simply put, a company setting up wind farm is substantially contributing to climate change mitigation, which is good. But on the other hand it may also do significant harm to biodiversity, especially if located badly.

Do note however, that even though the DNSH principle needs to be taken into consideration when assessing the methodology and impact of the project, the compliance is not mandatory (and not an evaluation criteria) unless explicitly stated. Simply put, a company setting up wind farm is substantially contributing to climate change mitigation, which is good. But on the other hand it may also do significant harm to biodiversity, especially if located badly. Both aspect need to be taken into consideration and possible negative effects should be weighed and mitigated.

The EU Taxonomy Regulation establishes six environmental objectives:

• Climate change mitigation
• Climate change adaptation
• The sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources
• The transition to a circular economy
• Pollution prevention and control
• The protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems

Due to varying circumstances in different countries, each country will tackle challenges that are topical for them. In Finland, Society's Commitment to Sustainable Development is a key instrument for implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It includes mutually agreed-upon objectives and practices that are required to secure a good life now and for the future generations. In Finland the government is responsible for reporting the process of sustainable development goals. In 2020 Finland published the Voluntary National Review on the implementation of the Agenda 2030. According to the review Finland is at the forefront of many international sustainability comparisons and close to reaching many of the SDGs related to social and economic sustainability. The key challenges are related to consumption and production patterns, climate action and the state of biodiversity. The review also noted that obesity is an increasing problem and gender equality challenges, such as gender-based violence and labour market disparities, still remain.

November 2020 Universities Finland, or UNIFI in short, published the UNIFI theses on sustainable development and responsibility emphasizing how universities play a key role in combatting and solving climate change and other crises.

The theses for Sustainable and responsible research are as follows:

• Research activities are aimed at solving great sustainability challenges.
• Attention is paid to sustainability and responsibility in the assessment and funding of research projects.
• Universities support an interdisciplinary approach, the principles of open science and a multifaceted global perspective in finding solutions to sustainability challenges.