Delivering on Domestic Inequality Reduction: Why and How SDG 10 can Help

Income and wealth inequality are rising in most countries around the world today. Recognizing that this challenge has become a universal issue, in 2015, the United Nations agreed to seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and specifically to SDG Target 10 committing countries to ‘reduce inequalities within and among countries’. So far, country responses have been sporadic and inconsistent, even in the very countries, that were the more vocal advocates of the inclusion of domestic inequality reduction in the new global Agenda. There has been little articulation about what Target 10 means in terms of national-level implementation. The lack of appropriation is a missed opportunity, in particular for European countries which face the pressing need to both impose their hallmark on the Agenda 2030, and to curb rising inequality at home in countries stuck in the grip of populist extremism. Along with climate action, domestic inequality reduction could be the distinctive priority of the EU both at home as well as in its development and cooperation policy[...]