The Golden Thread of Governance: Reconnecting environmental targets with credible outcomes
Governance matters. Too many grand ambitions end up languishing in process or politics, without ever achieving real outcomes.
When we want to see our aspirations through to action, governance should be the golden thread that ties everything together. Even as we set targets, we should know how they will be delivered, monitored, and evaluated.
That golden thread has broken. There are several steps missing between environmental targets and the outcomes we want.
Environmental targets represent some of our society’s most fundamental hopes for the future. Reconnecting targets to credible outcomes is one crucial step towards restoring confidence in government to deliver a country with thriving people, a healthy economy, and a flourishing environment.
Our recommendations for environmental targets
The IES has seven recommendations to repair the broken thread of governance:
- Start with clear, simple targets underpinned by a unifying vision
- Produce actionable and specific delivery plans
- Convene government, partners, and practitioners for delivery
- Provide sufficient resources to ensure delivery
- Use strong accountability frameworks at the programme or project level
- Monitor with a purpose and make better use of data
- Ensure monitoring and evaluation result in feedback to refine plans and delivery
Our policy team is actively working to support effective delivery of environmental targets, including through our Environmental Policy Implementation Community.
Further information and related issues
To support effective policy delivery, join our Environmental Policy Implementation Community (EPIC). If you want to support the work of the IES, you can become an affiliate, or if you’re a professional in the environmental sector working with science, consider joining the IES.
Header image credit: © abdul gapur dayak | AdobeStock
