Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Soft Governance
Soft Governance
Devel-
opment Goals. As Minister of Cities, you have an incredible opportunity to lead Australian cities & communities into a more
sustainable future. By embracing a soft governance approach to achieving these goals, you can push Australia forward from a
sustainability perspective while keeping economic growth top of mind.
The Future is Green ($ + ): Title Soft Governance has demonstrated its potential over the last few decades. While perhaps slower than we would like, soft gover-
to SDG 11 Take a look below to better understand this approach and the possibilities it offers for acheiving SDG 11 while maintaining a
strong Australian economy.
Make cities 11.1 By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing 11.6 By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities,
inclusive, and basic services, and upgrade slums. including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other
SDG 11
waste management.
safe, resilient 11.2 By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable
and sustainable. transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public 11.7 By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and
transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons
While Soft Governance can impact women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons. with disabilities
every part of SDG 11, here are five
indicators it is especially well suited 11.4 Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural
to help reach. heritage. 4
Examples
interest-free loans to reduce
Government Planning & Visioning 6 the upfront cost of installing
Product Labeling Corporations Governments
Who
Cert. Bodies
strategies to encourage private Local / Metro / State/ National Program (Federal) - 11.1, 11.2,
sector innovation & encourage 11.3, 11.7
Third party industry bodies require
An incentivised Great example for 11.6.
Examples
forms of voluntary compliance. Urban Forest Strategy (City disclosure of ingredients, energy / 7
Consumers Media water efficiencies, biodegrability,
of Melbourne) - 11.7
Resource Control Strategies
and other sustainability-related
gives us a
Sectors
5
chance at rapid be used to shift sustainability
practices of manufacturers or
Certification Schemes innovation and
suppliers. Companies may employ
these proactively to ensure access
Where
to a sustainable resource or
change.
Third party certification bodies State / National / Transnational
reactively to external stakeholder Many possibilities here that serve
offer industry-specific standards
pressure such as brand damage SDG 11.
and certifications around sustain-
Certification campaigns.
ability. Gov may encourage or
Short on political
Governments
Bodies For example, to make our built
support through economic
Where
Who
nance encourages Numerous Built Environment with timber suppliers who meet
Where
Examples
NABERS Corporations
Who
Associations Consumers Certificates (BEEC) as a “nutrition” label for buildings standard to reduce city emissions.
LEED including detailing red list industry reputational
Sectors
National / Transnational Local / Regional / State / National / educated consumers about the
es accountable for their commitment to were key in ousting leader-
ESG and the reputational risk of ship of Rio Tinto following the
campaigns used to affect a company’s
social license to operate OR shift
Transnational problematic dominance of the helps to get the
Example
Example
10 11
LIMITATIONS Creating sustainable cities and communities will depend on the private and public sector
As with any form of governance, this approach has its shortcomings including: coming together to work on solutions that are environmentally, socially and economically viable
for our long-term sustainability.
Forcing this process through legislation and other forms of harder governance can be difficult
Voluntary Underlying May not work
Continues to and without the political will or power, you may waste time trying to pass legislation that could
compliance systemic issues quickly enough
encourage be spent more productively leveraging tools outlined here. While this is not a perfect form of
makes enforce- are not to meet the
consumption. governance, it is familiar and readily accessible to you and other actors today and can help
ment difficult. addressed. SDGs. Australia be an international leader by reaching the goals of SDG 11 by 2030.
REFERENCES
1) Aras, G & Ingley, C 2017, Corporate Behavior and Sustainability: Doing Well by Being Good, Gower, London. 5) City of Melbourne 2017, Sustainable Development Goals - Opportunities and Recommendations Report 7) Solar Homes Program 2020, Solar Rebates, viewed 16 Stepember 2020, <https://www.solar.vic.gov.au/solar-rebates>.8) Living Future Institute Australia 2019, Declare, viewed 17 Stepember 2020,
2) Schoenfeld, J & Jordan, A 2020 'Towards harder soft governance? Monitoring climate policy in the EU', 2017, viewed September 17 2020 <https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/sus- <https://living-future.org.au/declare/>.
Journal of Environmental Planning & Policy. tainable-development-goals.pdf>. 9) Wolf, J 2013, ‘The Relationship Between Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Stakeholder Pressure and Corporate Sustainability Performance’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 119, pp. 317–328.
3) The Critical Sustainabilities Project 2020, Market-Oriented Sustainabilities, The Critical Sustainabilities 6) Sustainable Development Goals Australia n.d., Delivering Sustainable Development Through 10) Toscano, N & Knight, E 2020, 'Colonial rabble rousers: How a group of Australian funds toppled Rio's chief', The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 September, viewed 19 September 2020, <https://ww-
Project, viewed September 17 2020, <https://critical-sustainabilities.ucsc.edu/market-oriented/>. Infrastructure, Sustainable Development Goals Australia, viewed September 16 2020,< https://s- w.smh.com.au/business/companies/colonial-rabble-rousers-how-a-group-of-australian-funds-toppled-rio-s-chief-20200918-p55wxl.html>.
4) United Nations - Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development n.d., Goal 11, UN, dgs.org.au/project/delivering-sustainable-development-through-infrastructure/>. 11) GetUp! 2020, Better Power Campaign, GetUp! , viewed September 15 2020,
viewed September 17 2020, <https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11>. <https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/renewable-energy/send-the-dirty-three-a-message/switch-to-better-power-today>.