An in-depth introduction to global governance for sustainability

Addressing global challenges such as climate change, the decline of biodiversity and the violation of human rights is high on the agenda of international organizations, universities, non-governmental organizations and companies and stands at the core of the concept of sustainable development. The key importance of sustainable development has also been recognized in the adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, which also underlines the tradeoffs between global sustainability goals. Many global governance instruments have been developed and aim to tackle these challenges. In particular, international trade plays an important role both as perpetrator of global sustainability challenges and as a tool to address them.

This program provides an in-depth introduction into the Sustainable Development Goals and the key institutions established to address global sustainability challenges. Through 3 courses, you will learn what the key sustainability challenges are, how they can be addressed, which trade-offs exist in addressing sustainability challenges, which challenges emerge with the implementation of policies to address sustainability challenges and how to analyze the effectiveness of the many global governance instruments that are available to tackle global challenges, with a specific focus on international trade policy instruments.

You will acquire knowledge on these topics, get access to cutting edge reports and other sources such as webinars and hear from leading academics and practitioners. In total, the professional certificate gathers the insights from more than 25 experts. Academic experts come from a wide range of disciplines relevant to addressing sustainability challenges including law, political science, economics and bio-engineering. You will also learn from practitioners and policy-makers from the local to the global level.

The program is designed to empower critical and results-driven thinking that can be applied in the different types of organizations.

This professional certificate will give you a leading edge if you want to pursue a career in sustainable development either as a civil servant or policy advisor in national and international organizations, a campaigner for an NGO, a researcher engaged in sustainability research for a think tank or university or a business professional in the area of corporate social responsibility.

The program was developed by the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, a leading international and interdisciplinary research centre of the University of Leuven. The Centre conducts fundamental academic research but is also involved in sustainability research for a wide range of institutions including UN agencies, European Union institutions, national governments and private actors. It brings together renowned faculty and shares its knowledge through different channels including academic papers, webinars, roundtables and conferences.