Samenvatting artikelen HDSD
Heras-Saizarbitoria, I., Urbieta, L., & Boiral, O. (2022). Organizations'
engagement with sustainable development goals: From cherry-picking to
SDG-washing?.
Dit artikel analyseert de betrokkenheid van de organisatie bij de duurzame
ontwikkelingsdoelen (SDG’s) van de verenigde naties. Een initiatief voor maatschappelijk
verantwoord ondernemen dat ook wel de agenda 2030 wordt genoemd. De bevindingen
wijzen op een oppervlakkige betrokkenheid bij de SDG’s voor de meerderheid van
organisaties wat een proces van “SDG washing” suggereert. Most of the companies
analyzed were very evasive or silent about their approach to tackling the sdg’s in their
reports. In the best cases, there is a cherry picking use of the sdg’s in which organisations
identify, in a very superficial and rather elastic way.
This study draws a rather disappointing picture of the engagement with the SDGs.
Most of the companies analyzed were very evasive or silent about their approach to
tackling the SDGs in their reports. And when an explicit reference was made, a rather
simple functionalistic and deterministic discourse, without references to any meaningful
reflection, was presented
In most cases— over 80%—the prioritization of SDGs was not explained, or where it was,
evidence of a meaningful process of prioritization was rarely found. The organizational
operationalization of the SDGs was also superficial—or non-existent—in the majority of the
cases>not referring to specific targets, indicators.
Broadness of SDGs give room for cherry-picking.
SDGs provide legitimacy for organizations, while they actually not really commit to the
2030 Agenda.
Door: Bhambra- climate colonialism
we argue for the use of caution and precision in the invocation of colonialism within climate
change debates.
We discuss the ways in which colonial histories are constitutive of climate and the
importance of acknowledging such histories
Any effective response to climate change must reckon with the colonial histories that have
produced it.
Uncerstanding climate change in the context of colonial histories implies more than the
payment for loss and damages experienced today as a result of accumulated emissions.
Colonialism, not only as a historical driver of the climate crisis, but also as something that
continues to exacerbate the vulnerabilities of communities to it.
o It is not simply a capitalist world that colonialism had facilitated through ‘primitive
accumulation’, but a world in which colonialism is continuous with the reproduction of
capitalism. The inequalities generated and exacerbated by climate change in the present
have longer and connected histories once colonialism is properly acknowledged as a
continuous factor.
o The cause of climate change matters for its solution. Why the conceptualization of
modernity matters in such debates is because it has an effect on how we think about
addressing the causes and consequences of climate change – whether in terms of
mitigation or adaptation, or more profoundly in relation to understandings of reparative
justice. As such, we argue that consideration of colonialism needs to be more substantive
,within such debates. If climate change is linked only to capitalism, then emphasis is placed
upon proposed solutions that align with capitalist imperatives, such as carbon trading.
o It is commonly recognized that those who have contributed the most to produce the life-
threatening consequences of climate change are less exposed to the worst effects and
have the greatest capacity to mitigate those consequences for themselves.
o It is increasingly recognized that beyond a certain point climate change cannot be
adapted to. What is needed is a comprehensive commitment to reparations for climate
change that acknowledges the histories that have produced it and is oriented to a world
that works for us all.
o Understanding climate change in the context of colonial histories implies more than the
payment for loss and damages experienced today as a result of accumulated emissions. It
requires instead a broader recognition of how socially and regionally uneven
concentrations of wealth, which have resulted in climatechanging emissions, were created
in the first place.
Door; ferris- research on climate change and migration where are we and where are we
going?
I often think of the present state of academic research on climate change as a field in formation
or a field with a 100 flowers blooming. While there does seem to be a consensus that climate
change will become a major driver of population movements in the future and while the number
of researchers working on the issue is increasing, presently the field is characterized by
competing territorial/institutional interests. This short essay provides an overview of 5 strands of
research which began at different points in time.
Strand 1; climate change scientists- starting point—> physical changes caused by climate
change
Strand 2: migration researchers- environmental factors as drivers of migration. While migration
researchers are more likely to see migration as a coping or adoption strategy to climate change,
it seems that climate change scientists see displacement as a negative consequence of climate
change.
Strand 3; DRR and humanitarian actors- at the same time that migration researchers were
taking up the issue of environmental factors and climate change as drivers of migration,
humanitarian actors with experience in responding to natural disasters became focussed on
reducing the risk of disasters. Focused on displacement ,particularly people who were displaced
by sudden disasters.
Strand 4; development actors- tended to focus on slow onset disasters, particularly drought.
Disasters and climate change push people into poverty and hence are a major concern of
development actors working to end poverty.
Strand 5; international lawyers, conflict researchers and security agencies. They identified a
range of legal issues, including questions of protection and human rights of those forced to
move for environmental reasons. Tend to see migration as contributing to conflict.
Most obviously, there is no consensus about what terminology to use—climate change
refugee? Environmental migrant? Nor is there consensus on how many people are
expected to move; different research projects use different time frames (2030, 2050, 2100,
etc.), are based on different assumptions, and (not surprisingly) come up with different
, estimates, ranging from 50 million to 1 billion migrants associated with the effects of
climate change during this century
o This short essay provides an overview of five strands of research which began at
different points in time, which intersect (sometimes) with each other and which are making
substantive contributions to our understanding of the relationship between climate change
and mobility
o Climate change scientists:
§ Climate change scientists have largely focused on the nature of
the environmental drivers themselves, taking as their starting
point the physical changes caused by climate change and
based on that analysis, they have considered the impact of
such physical changes on the movement of people
§ Certainly displacement—when people are forced to leave their
communities—is a negative phenomenon and in this context,
treating it as a loss or damage is appropriate. But there are
other forms of mobility which are likely to result from the effects
of environmental change which may not be so unambiguously
negative.
o Migration researchers:
§ The International Organization for Migration (IOM) was one of the
first international organizations to work on environmental
migration, organizing an initial seminar on the issue in 2007
and preparing a paper the same year suggesting that migration
was a coping strategy for severe environmental change.
§ Generalizations are risky but it seems that climate change
scientists see displacement as a negative consequence of
climate change (which also underscores the severity of the
threat of climate change), while migration researchers are more
likely to see migration as a negative consequence of climate
change (which also underscores the severity of the threat of
climate change), while migration researchers are more likely to
see migration as a coping or adaptation strategy to climate
change. A third strand of research, disaster risk reduction
(DRR), has a different starting point.
o DRR and humanitarian actors:
§ Humanitarian actors with experience in responding to natural
disasters became focused on reducing the risk of disasters.
Over time, this focus on disaster risk reduction became a
central focus of development agencies.
§ The disaster risk reduction and humanitarian communities
focused on displacement— particularly people who were
displaced by sudden-onset disasters—rather than other forms
of migration. For humanitarians, this was a natural transition—
UNHCR, for example, has substantial expertise in responding
to people displaced by conflict and persecution which can be
applied to those displaced for other reasons.
