Report on Baltimore’s Proposed Regional Collaboration for Sustainable Development

Executive Summary

A proposal has been put forward by Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott advocating for increased inter-jurisdictional cooperation on critical development issues. The initiative specifically targets infrastructure and climate change, aligning directly with several key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This report outlines the proposal’s core components and its significant emphasis on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The mayor’s call for regional teamwork represents a localized strategy to implement global sustainability targets. The primary areas of focus are intrinsically linked to the following SDGs:

• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
• SDG 13: Climate Action
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Key Strategic Areas

1. Resilient Infrastructure and Innovation (SDG 9)

   The proposal calls for a unified approach to infrastructure challenges. The objective is to build resilient, sustainable, and reliable infrastructure that supports regional economic development and enhances quality of life, a core target of SDG 9.

2. Urgent Climate Action (SDG 13)

   A central tenet of the initiative is the collaborative fight against climate change. By pooling resources and strategies, the jurisdictions aim to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards, directly addressing the call for urgent action in SDG 13.

3. Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11)

   The initiative inherently promotes the goals of SDG 11 by seeking to make the city of Baltimore and its surrounding settlements more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable through coordinated planning and action.

4. Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17)

   The fundamental principle of the proposal is partnership. Mayor Scott’s call for neighboring jurisdictions to work together embodies the spirit of SDG 17, which emphasizes the need for multi-stakeholder partnerships to achieve sustainable development objectives.

1. Relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

  This goal is relevant because the article explicitly mentions the mayor’s desire for jurisdictions to work together on “infrastructure issues.” This directly addresses the core theme of SDG 9, which is to build resilient infrastructure.

• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

  The article focuses on Baltimore and its surrounding jurisdictions, making SDG 11 a key goal. The call to address infrastructure and climate change within an urban and regional context aligns with making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.

• SDG 13: Climate Action

  This is one of the two central issues mentioned in the article. The mayor’s call to “work more closely together on… combatting climate change” is a direct reference to the objective of SDG 13, which urges immediate action to address climate change and its impacts.

• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

  The article’s main thrust is the need for collaboration. The statement that the mayor “wants to see jurisdictions around the city work more closely together” highlights the importance of partnerships, which is the central focus of SDG 17.

2. Specific SDG Targets

• Targets for SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

  • Target 9.1: “Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being…” The article’s focus on regional cooperation (“jurisdictions around the city”) on “infrastructure issues” directly relates to this target.

• Targets for SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

  • Target 11.b: “By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters…” The mayor’s call for a joint approach to combatting climate change is an effort to create such integrated policies at a regional level.

• Targets for SDG 13: Climate Action

  • Target 13.2: “Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning.” The article discusses implementing this at a local and regional level, as the mayor wants to see teamwork on “combatting climate change.”

• Targets for SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

  • Target 17.14: “Enhance policy coherence for sustainable development.” The call for different jurisdictions to work together on shared issues like infrastructure and climate is a direct attempt to improve policy coherence across municipal boundaries.
  • Target 17.16: “Enhance the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships…” The proposed collaboration among jurisdictions is a form of a multi-stakeholder partnership aimed at achieving common goals.

3. Mentioned or Implied Indicators

The provided article is a very brief high-level statement of intent. It does not contain any specific, quantifiable data or metrics. Therefore, no official SDG indicators are mentioned or can be directly derived from the text. The article implies a need for future measurement related to infrastructure improvements and climate action, but it does not specify what those indicators would be (e.g., percentage reduction in emissions, miles of new resilient infrastructure, number of joint policy agreements).

4. Summary Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: baltimoresun.com