Succeeding at home and abroad -- Accounting for the international spillovers of cities' SDG actions

TL;DR

This paper emphasizes the importance of local SDG actions and their international spillovers, advocating for mechanisms that enable local authorities to account for global impacts of their SDG strategies.

Contribution

It highlights the need for accounting frameworks that incorporate international spillovers of local SDG actions, proposing a new perspective for local-global SDG accountability.

Findings

Different local SDG strategies cause varied international spillovers.

Local actions can positively or negatively impact SDGs in other countries.

A call for research to develop global accounting mechanisms for local SDG efforts.

Abstract

Local SDG action is imperative to reach the 2030 Agenda, but different strategies for progressing on one SDG locally may cause different 'spillovers' on the same and other SDGs beyond local and national borders. We call for research efforts to empower local authorities to 'account globally' when acting locally.