From global development to local responsibility
Framing the scale of the Sustainable Development Goals in Norway
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21363756 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mathias Brynildsen Reinar (0000-0002-5256-0187, Nordland Research Institute, corresponding author), Aase Kristine Lundberg (0000-0001-5812-6034, Nordland Research Institute) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 79 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 122-132 |
| Publication date | 2025-05-27 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0029-1951 • E-ISSN: 1502-5292 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00291951.2025.2576053 |
| OpenAlex | W4416675378 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are formulated as global goals, but their realisation depends on actions taken at national, regional, and local levels. The article examines how the Norwegian government has framed the SDGs as a responsibility of local governments in its national response to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by UN member states in 2015. The authors combine analysis of governmental policies from the period 2015–2022 with interviews with national actors to argue that framing the scale of implementation is a powerful tool for governments and other actors to define problems, solutions, and responsibilities. The SDGs were reframed from global goals to a local responsibility, which positioned municipalities as key actors in Norway while reducing the need for national-level action. The main finding is that scale framing served as a strategic tool to delegate responsibility while avoiding systemic national reforms. The authors argue that such a framing is insufficient to address the broader structural changes needed to fulfil the 2030 Agenda. They conclude that while local framing aligns with the international localisation discourse, it risks undermining the transformative ambition of the 2030 Agenda by excluding challenges that require national coordination and cross-sectoral policy
Framing (construction) · Global South · Scale (ratio) · Sustainability · Sustainable development · Land Use and Management · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance · Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy
Global Institutions and Development
Sustainable Development Report 2022
Reframing Policy Discourse
Adapting the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda to the city level
Local Governments and SDG Localisation
Cross‐scale, cross‐level and multi‐actor governance of transformations toward the Sustainable Development Goals
From Millennium to Sustainable Development Goals
Scientific evidence on the political impact of the Sustainable Development Goals
Locating Cities and Their Governments in Multi-Level Sustainability Governance
Doing scalar politics
Global governance by goal-setting
Contrasting frames in policy debates on climate change adaptation
Conceptualising variations in societal transformations towards sustainability
Avoiding the Local Trap
Framing the Localization of the Global Agendas
Scale frames and counter-scale frames
Rethinking Sustainable Cities
| Highly cited | No |
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