The transition from multi-crisis towards Sustainability
If you can't measure it, you can't manage it, and you can’t improve it!
Professor Phoebe Koundouri
Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) and Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Director ATHENA Information Technologies RC
Chair UN SDSN Global Climate Hub and European Hub, Chair AE4RIA
Member World Academy of Art & Science, European Academy of Science, European Academy of Science
Technology
President European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists
President World Council of Environmental and Resource Economists

Measuring Sustainability
If you can't measure it, you can't manage it, and you can’t improve it!

SDG2

SDG6

SDG15

SDG13

UN SDSN Global Climate Hub
https://unsdsn.globalclimatehub.org

In collaboration with national governments andrespective SDSN National Hubs (2000 institutions
globally) we co-design national and sub-national
pathways for the transition to a climate neutral andresilient world.
Optimal Dynamic Mixture of Technologies, Policies,
Fiscal & Financial Instruments

Supporting Projects

Land Use Sustainable Pathway: In Need of an IPFSS Report!
> 1 billion Combination of Scenarios  Pathways

Current Trends

National Commitments



Global Targets

Shifting diets, increasing crop and livestock productivity, andlimiting agricultural land expansion, are the strongest
drivers of positive change in global biodiversity.

Implementing these reforms in multiple countries would help
put us on track to achieve global biodiversity, food security
and climate mitigation goals by 2050.

Decline in GHG Emissions by 2050 - GREECEERC Water Futures ProjectWhy URBAN Water Systems?
Half of humanity – 3.5 billion people – lives in cities
today and 5 billion people are projected to live in cities
by 2030.
By 2050 70% of the world population is predicted to livein urban settlements.
Rapid urbanization is exerting pressure on fresh watersupplies, sewage, the living environment, and publichealth.

Methodologies for analysing
decision-making under
uncertainty and ambiguity,
experimental behavioral
science and including nonmarket economics valuation.

Methodologies for explainablemachine learning to explainchanges in the system and theinfluence of uncertain
parameters on long-term
decision making.

Methodologies for water
infrastructure planning andmanagement, valuing
robustness and flexibility underdeep uncertainties.

Methodologies for real-timemonitoring and control for
explainable fault diagnosis, andreal-time risk assessment for
both water quantity and quality.

Machine Learning Textual Analysis
Does the EGD support the implementation of the SDGs?

Which of the 6 Sustainable Development
Transformations are supported by the EGD?

Key Sectors for Green Recovery

Are the European Recovery and Resilient Plans
SDGs-compatible?

Energy Sector - shift from fuels-based to mineralsbased energy production, storage, anddistribution system•Agriculture and Food Sector - directly linked tothe environment and the ecosystems
Housing and Urbanization - Urbanization’s growth
should be managed sustainably
Health Sector - invest COVID-19 recovery
packages in strengthening health systems andincrease regulation on risk-sources
R&D for Geo-engineering - Removing CO2 fromthe atmosphere, blocking the sun, etc.

Sustainable Finance: Valuing Natural and Cultural Capital

Fiscal Innovation: What are the distributional effects of Key EU climate policies?

Sustainable Private Sector

Integrating Natural Capital in the Sustainable Finance Framework

Experiments basedon Virtual Reality

O p e n - A c c e s s , A I - b a s e d P L AT F O R M f o r
E c o s y s t e m a n d C u l t u r a l S e r v i c e s Va l u a t i o n

The SDG Stimulus puts forward
three areas for immediate action:
The impact of the current multi-crisis on developing countries is aggravated by an unfair global financial
system that is short-term oriented and crisis-prone, and that further exacerbates inequalities.
UN SDGs Stimulus for Agenda 2030
Reform of the Global Financial Architecture, The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences
1 Tackle the high cost of debt and rising risks of debt distress, including by converting short-term highinterest borrowing into long-term (more than 30 year) debt at lower interest rates.
2 Massively scale up affordable long-term financing for development, especially through public
development banks (PDBs), including multilateral development banks (MDBs), and by aligning all financing
flows with the SDGs.

Models can provide the evidence, but people must
make the decisions…
Our transformative and participatory approaches seek
to bridge the gap between science, policy and society,by supporting key actors to utilize model outputs tomake sustainable decisions.
Supporting Projects
Methodologies••••••

Transformative Living Labs
System Innovation and Transition Management
Innovation Pathways
Foresight methods such as Backcasting
key actions and policy recommendations
Living Lab Modeler Tool

In need of IPFSS
I!ntergovernmental Panel on Food Security
and Sustainability

In need of IPFSS
I!ntergovernmental Panel on Food Security
and Sustainability

In need of IPFSS
I!ntergovernmental Panel on Food Security
and Sustainability