BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:unctad.org BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6aa4f59f13fe8 DTSTART:20260422T134500Z SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE DTEND:20260422T153000Z LOCATION:Geneva\, Switzerland SUMMARY:Panel discussion on Beyond GDP: Valuing What Counts: Rethinking pr ogress in the UNECE region in an age of crises CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Gross domestic product (GDP) has long served as the dominant me asure of economic performance\, providing a common language for policymake rs\, statisticians and markets. But it is an incomplete proxy for progress . It captures the value of production\, but not how that value is distribu ted\, whether it enhances well being\, or at what cost to societies and th e environment.In the context of today’s interconnected crises – includ ing climate change\, biodiversity loss\, rising inequalities\, demographic shifts and declining trust in institutions – the limitations of GDP hav e become increasingly consequential. Economic growth can coincide with env ironmental degradation\, social exclusion\, and the undervaluation of esse ntial activities such as unpaid care work. In some cases\, harmful activit ies may even contribute positively to GDP\, while investments in long-term resilience or social cohesion remain invisible in conventional metrics.R ecognizing these gaps\, the international community has\, over several dec ades\, developed a wide range of complementary approaches to measuring pro gress – including the Human Development Index\, multidimensional poverty measures\, environmental-economic accounting\, and the Sustainable Develo pment Goals (SDGs) themselves – Goals that integrate economic\, social a nd environmental dimensions of development.Recent United Nations work has sought to consolidate these efforts into a more coherent framework. The Se cretary-General’s Our Common Agenda and the United Nations system-wide c ontribution on Valuing What Counts call for a renewed political commitment to develop complementary metrics that reflect well-being\, sustainability \, and equity – and to embed these in decision-making processes. The UN ECE region is particularly well positioned to advance this agenda. It comb ines high-income economies with countries in transition\, offering a diver se laboratory for testing and applying new approaches to measuring progres s. But challenges remain.Efforts to go beyond GDP are often fragmented\; d ata systems are uneven\; and the link between measurement and policy actio n remains weak. Moving forward will require not only technical innovation but also political leadership\, institutional capacity and inclusive dial ogue across stakeholders. Against this backdrop\, the panel will provide a multistakeholder platform to explore how Beyond GDP approaches can move from concept to practice – shaping policies\, investments and public nar ratives in ways that better reflect well-being\, sustainability and resili ence in the UNECE region and beyond. Guiding Questions From measurement to decision-making: What are the most promising ways to ensure that “Bey ond GDP” metrics actually influence fiscal\, economic and social policy — rather than remaining parallel statistical exercises? Integrating fra meworks\, avoiding fragmentation: With hundreds of existing indicators and initiatives\, how can we converge towards a manageable\, credible and pol icy-relevant set of metrics at national and regional levels? Data\, capa city and trust: What investments and institutional changes are needed – particularly for national statistical offices – to produce robust\, disa ggregated and trusted data on well- being and sustainability? Challenging the growth paradigm: To what extent does moving “beyond GDP” require rethinking growth itself – and how can policymakers navigate this debate without undermining economic stability? <\;p>\;Gross domestic produc t (GDP) has long served as the dominant measure of economic performance\, providing a common language for policymakers\, statisticians and markets. But it is an incomplete proxy for progress. It captures the value of produ ction\, but not how that value is distributed\, whether it enhances well b eing\, or at what cost to societies and the environment.<\;/p>\;<\;p >\;In the context of today’s interconnected crises – including clima te change\, biodiversity loss\, rising inequalities\, demographic shifts a nd declining trust in institutions – the limitations of GDP have become increasingly consequential. Economic growth can coincide with environmenta l degradation\, social exclusion\, and the undervaluation of essential act ivities such as unpaid care work. In some cases\, harmful activities may e ven contribute positively to GDP\, while investments in long-term resilien ce or social cohesion&\;nbsp\;<\;br>\;remain invisible in conventio nal metrics.<\;/p>\;<\;p>\;Recognizing these gaps\, the internatio nal community has\, over several decades\, developed a wide range of compl ementary approaches to measuring progress – including the Human Developm ent Index\, multidimensional poverty measures\, environmental-economic acc ounting\, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) themselves – Goal s that integrate economic\, social and environmental dimensions of develop ment.<\;/p>\;<\;p>\;Recent United Nations work has sought to conso lidate these efforts into a more coherent framework. The Secretary-General ’s Our Common Agenda and the United Nations system-wide contribution on Valuing What Counts call for a renewed political commitment to develop com plementary metrics that reflect well-being\, sustainability\, and equity – and to embed these in decision-making processes.&\;nbsp\;<\;/p> \;<\;p>\;The UNECE region is particularly well positioned to advance t his agenda. It combines high-income economies with countries in transition \, offering a diverse laboratory for testing and applying new approaches t o measuring progress. But challenges remain.<\;/p>\;<\;p>\;Efforts to go beyond GDP are often fragmented\; data systems are uneven\; and the link between measurement and policy action remains weak.&\;nbsp\;<\; /p>\;<\;p>\;Moving forward will require not only technical innovatio n but also political leadership\, institutional capacity and inclusive dia logue across stakeholders.&\;nbsp\;<\;/p>\;<\;p>\;Against this backdrop\, the panel will provide a multistakeholder platform to explore h ow Beyond GDP approaches can move from concept to practice – shaping pol icies\, investments and public narratives in ways that better reflect well -being\, sustainability and resilience in the UNECE region and beyond.& \;nbsp\;<\;/p>\;<\;h4>\;<\;strong>\;Guiding Questions&\;nbs p\;<\;/strong>\;<\;/h4>\;<\;ol>\;<\;li data-list-item-id=&qu ot\;e41773632656c70988ff5d93810b09d7d\n\nView meeting on unctad.org\nhttps ://unctad.org/meeting/panel-discussion-beyond-gdp-valuing-what-counts-reth inking-progress-unece-region-age-crises DTSTAMP:20260912T064759Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR