International spillovers in SDG implementation: the case of soy from Argentina

HOFF, HOLGER; MONJEAU, ADRIAN; GOMEZ-PAREDES, JORGE; FRANK, FEDERICO; MALIK, ARUNIMA; ROJO, SOFIA; ADAMS, KEVIN

SEI

Stockholm Environment Institute

Lugar: Estocolmo; Año: 2019

1756-5529

The soy value chain from Argentina to Europe provides a well-researched example of a complex set of positive and negative environmental and socio-economic impacts ? unequally distributed along the value chain ? enabling a detailed spilloverEconomic impacts along the soy value chain are mostly positive, social impacts have both positive and negative components, while environmental impacts are mostly negative and largely occur on the production side (Argentina). At the consumption end (Europe), negative environmental impacts are averted by externalizing production to Argentina.Argentina experiences the negative spillovers as obstacles to its national SDG implementation, while the EU in principle recognizes its responsibility for spillovers resulting from all of its policies, through its commitment to Policy Coherence for Development.Taking shared responsibility and jointly achieving sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12) will require policies and interventions that are based on integrated assessments of positive and negative impacts across sectors andThe SDGs are global in scope, and cannot be achieved by individual countries acting alone, but only through global partnerships for development (SDG 17). Entry points for Europe to meet its global responsibility include for example the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, as well as developmentIn order for countries to jointly address spillovers, they also need to be accounted for in SDG monitoring and review.