Harmonising Environmental Laws Across Countries Through SDG-17

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.63345/ijhs.net.v10.i7.5

Dr Pooja Khurana

Assistant Professor

Orcid Id: 0009-0000-7767-3527

Abstract— Fragmentation of environmental laws across jurisdictions continues to undermine collective action on climate change, biodiversity loss and transboundary pollution, despite the normative framework established by the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goal 17 (SDG-17). Existing scholarship highlights SDG-17’s potential to foster policy coherence, promote multi-stakeholder partnerships, and support alignment of environmental norms, yet empirical evidence on its influence on national legislative reforms remains limited. Current frameworks for policy coherence seldom operate at the level of concrete legal provisions, and most partnership assessments focus on numerical reporting rather than regulatory outcomes. Moreover, comparative environmental law research shows persistent divergence in legal traditions, enforcement capacity and institutional coordination, raising questions about the effectiveness of SDG-17 as a harmonisation mechanism. Addressing these gaps, this study investigates how SDG-17 can systematically support the convergence of environmental laws by integrating coherence metrics, partnership accountability, and principle-based legal alignment. Through cross-jurisdictional analysis and evaluation of coherence tools, the research aims to develop a structured model that links SDG-17 implementation processes to measurable legislative harmonisation. The findings seek to contribute to global environmental governance by providing an evidence-based pathway for strengthening environmental law convergence and enhancing the effectiveness of SDG-17 as a driver of transnational sustainability regulation.

Keywords— Environmental Law Harmonisation, SDG-17, Policy Coherence, Global Environmental Governance, Sustainable Development Frameworks

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