SDG #8: Decent work and economic growth

COVID-19 is accelerating the pace of digital transformation. In so doing, it is opening the opportunities for advancing social progress and fostering social inclusion, while simultaneously exacerbating the risk of increased inequalities and exclusion of those who are not digitally connected.

The pandemic has exposed systemic vulnerabilities of the world economy. A robust and resilient recovery will require strengthening public finances and improving debt sustainability, combating inequality and expanding social protection, and promoting climate action and environmental sustainability.

The COVID-19 crisis has served as a reminder of the extent of economic insecurity, even in countries and among groups that previously considered themselves secure. This is likely to have profound consequences, threatening countries? ability to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs.

The 23rd Session of the CDP Plenary was held from 22-26 Feb 2021.

Fears related to economic insecurity are on the rise. Changes in the world of work, together with globalization and technological breakthroughs, have benefited many people but are also putting many others at disadvantage or at risk. These long-standing trends, which have raised aspirations but also fears, are compounded by evolving threats, including those brought about by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic reached every corner of the world, infecting more than 90 million and, so far, has killed close to 2 million people worldwide. The crisis responses, however, entailed difficult choices between saving lives and saving livelihoods, between speed of delivery and efficiency, and between short-term costs and long-term impacts.

while a deeper crisis has been averted in the immediate term, central banks are facing an increasingly challenging operating environment, characterized by structurally weaker economies, greater uncertainty, and more fragile financial systems. This new post-crisis reality may force a rethink of the role of central banks and monetary policy.

Governments are using big data analytics to get prepared, react effectively, and develop both short term and long-term strategies. Yet, increasing public concerns about data privacy and security put in jeopardy public trust in data collection, use and dissemination by government, business and relevant non-government institutions.

The world registered a record reduction of energy-related CO2 emissions in the first half of 2020. However, this year?s reduction is projected to be a one-time dip, and only has an infinitesimal impact on the buildup of atmospheric CO2