Putting Global Public Goods Back in the Context of a Polycrisis

Charlotte GARDES-LANDOLFINI * Climate change, energy and financial stability expert, IMF (International Monetary Fund). Contact : charlotte.gardes@hotmail.fr.The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and may not be attributable to the IMF, its Executive Directors, its management, or any of its members.

As the world faces an unprecedented “polycrisis”, the provision – and sustainability – of global public goods is being profoundly affected. First and foremost, climate and nature, but also the other global public goods provided by the commons, which need to be protected. Defining global public goods in this context means emphasizing both their centrality – a prerequisite for sustainability in an interconnected world – and their profoundly political nature. The insufficient availability of these public goods and the governance challenges that are specific to them must therefore be re-examined. This article describes the characteristics of global public goods, their diversity, but also the links between them, the many challenges they face, and possible solutions.

The world is facing an unparalleled “polycrisis”, with crises in multiple global systems becoming causally entangled “in ways that significantly degrade humanity's prospects” (Lawrence et al., 2022). This polycrisis is affecting the supply – and the sustainability of – global public goods: climate, nature, financial stability, and others. Yet, global public goods matter because they are a prerequisite for sustainability in an interconnected world. This growing interconnectedness leads both to an increase in critical common challenges, and a variety of dilemmas to solve them. In this context, the UNICEF's 2023 Global Outlook, untitled “Prospects for Children in the Polycrisis”, provides a seminal perspective on the provision of global public goods, by adopting a “200-year present” perspective (Boulding, 1988). Such a time frame – which…