On October 1 2025, Dr Chirag Dhara, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, SIAS presented a talk as part of our monthly public seminar series on “A new development classification for the 21st century” at Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
About the Talk
Nordic countries are frequently positioned as the leaders of “sustainable development” but their high per capita resource use presents a significant challenge. We propose a refined conceptual framework for sustainable development centering “universalizability” – the capacity for a development trajectory to have be globally adopted without overshooting biophysical limits. Our analysis identifies Panama, Costa Rica, and Sri Lanka as having achieved the highest levels of scalable social progress.
Dr Dhara and team leverage this framework to propose a new equity-oriented development classification that aligns with current research on environmental limits. This framework offers an alternative to the prevailing conception of a “developed country”, and enables the identification of replicable development models. Its goal is to offer policymakers guidance toward more equitable and sustainable progress in the 21st century.