2023-06-21
PARIS, FRANCE, 21 June 2023 – For the third year in a row, global progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been static, and there is a risk that the gap in SDG outcomes between high-income countries (HICs) and low-income countries (LICs) will be larger in 2030 than when the goals were universally agreed upon in 2015, reveals the latest Sustainable Development Report (SDR) released today. The SDR includes the SDG Index and Dashboards ranking the performance of all UN Member States on the SDGs and is produced by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). Despite the grim news, the report demonstrates that while the world is off track at the mid-point of the SDGs, now is the time for countries to double down on SDG progress by endorsing deep reform of the global financial architecture and implementing the SDG Stimulus to close the significant financing gap facing developing and emerging countries.
Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, President of the SDSN and a lead author of the report, emphasizes the following, “Half way to 2030, the SDGs are seriously off track – with the poor and highly vulnerable countries suffering the most. The international community should step up at this month’s Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris, and at the key upcoming multilateral meetings, including the G20 meeting in New Delhi, the SDG Summit New York in September, and COP28 in Dubai, to scale-up international financial flows based on SDG needs. It would be unconscionable for the world to miss this opportunity, especially for the richest countries to evade their responsibilities. The SDGs remain fundamental for the future we want.”
The report is accessible here. The websites and data visualization links are available below.
Website: https://www.sdgindex.org/
Data Visualization:https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/
New SDG Transformation Center:https://sdgtransformationcenter.org/
Citation Details: Sachs, J.D., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., Drumm, E. (2023). Implementing the SDG Stimulus. Sustainable Development Report 2023. Paris: SDSN, Dublin: Dublin University Press, 2023. 10.25546/102924
At the mid-point of the SDGs, not a single goal will be achieved by 2030 at the current rate.
The SDR shows that based on the current pace of progress since 2015, none of the goals will be achieved by 2030, and on average, less than 20% of the SDG targets are on track to be achieved. While from 2015 – 2019, the world was making some modest progress on the SDGs, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and simultaneous global crises and setbacks, progress has stalled and is one full point below the projected level based on pre-pandemic trends. Furthermore, the report highlights that there is a risk that the gap in SDG outcomes between HICs and LICs will be larger in 2030 (29 points) than it was in 2015 (28 points) – underscoring the danger of losing a decade of progress towards convergence globally.
Some of the indicators that experienced the most significant reversals in progress include subjective well-being, access to vaccination, poverty, and unemployment rate. SDG goals related to hunger, sustainable diets and health outcomes (SDG 2 and SDG 3) are particularly off-track, as well as terrestrial and marine biodiversity (SDGs 14 and 15), air and plastic pollution (SDG 11 and SDG 12), and strong institutions and peaceful societies (SDG 16). On average, since the adoption of the SDGs in 2015, the world made some progress in strengthening access to key infrastructure, covered notably under SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure).
Finland holds the top spot on this year’s 2023 SDG Index, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Austria. European countries continue to lead in the SDG Index – holding the top 10 spots – and are on track to achieve more targets than any other region, with Denmark, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, and the Slovak Republic as the top five countries that have achieved or are on track to achieving the largest number of SDG targets this year. By contrast, Lebanon, Yemen, Papua New Guinea, Venezuela, and Myanmar have the largest number of SDG targets moving in the wrong direction.
Chronic shortfalls of SDG financing to developing and emerging economies persist. SDSN offers six priorities for reform of the Global Financial Architecture.
At their core, the SDGs are investment agenda, and the report highlights that the current global financial architecture (GFA) is failing to channel global savings to SDG investments at the needed pace and scale. In 2022, investment per person in the LICs averaged a meager $175 USD per person, compared with $11,535 USD per person in the HICs (Moody’s and World Bank, 2023). Most LICs and LMICs lack the credit ratings to borrow on acceptable terms, making them highly vulnerable to self-fulfilling liquidity and balance of payments crises and nearly impossible for these countries to implement long-term sustainable investment strategies. Coupled with these challenges are private capital markets that continue to direct large flows of private savings to unsustainable technologies and practices and an international system that is impeded by outdated frameworks to ensure large-scale SDG financing. In this context, the SDR presents a six-point plan to reform the GFA, including the adoption of an SDG stimulus, issued by SDSN’s Leadership Council, a preeminent group of global experts and leaders in sustainable development across academia, business, civil society, and the public sector.[1]
All countries, poorer and richer alike, should use the half-way momentum to self-critically review and revise their national SDG strategies and long-term investment frameworks.
At the mid-point of the SDGs, the SDR highlights that government effort and commitment to the SDGs is too low, and no country is close to obtaining a perfect score. There is significant variation across countries, with some developing and emerging economies – including Benin, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Senegal – showing quite remarkable commitment for the SDGs. Among the G20 countries, average scores range from more than 75 percent in Indonesia to less than 40 percent in the Russian Federation and the United States. Notably, LICs and LMICs obtained a higher average score than HICs on political and institutional leadership for the SDGs. Since the adoption of the SDGs, only five countries have never submitted their SDG action plan to the United Nations for a Voluntary National Review; these include Haiti, Myanmar, South Sudan, Yemen, and the United States.
This year’s report also shows that despite most governments having signaled “soft” SDG integration into their public management practices and procedures, “hard” SDG integration is missing in most countries, including the use of the SDGs to support long-term budget and investment frameworks. In a survey of 74 countries and the European Union, only one-third of governments mention the SDGs or use related terms in their latest official budget document, with even fewer including the SDGs in a dedicated section, budget lines, or allocation.
New Pilot Index Gauges Countries Support for Multilateralism.
An important component of countries’ efforts and commitments to the SDGs is the promotion of multilateralism and global cooperation under the UN Charter, the founding document of the United Nations. This year’s report includes the first pilot index of multilateralism that captures the overarching dimensions of support for multilateralism and comparisons of countries, including countries’ efforts to promote and preserve peace, percentage of UN treaties ratified, international solidarity and financing, membership in select UN organizations, and the use of unilateral coercive measures among other indicators. Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Germany, Jamaica, and Seychelles obtained the highest score for their efforts to promote multilateralism, yet no country obtains a perfect score.
Other key findings of the Sustainable Development Report 2023 include:
Since 2015, the SDR has provided the most up-to-date data to track and rank the performance of all UN Member States on the SDGs. The report was written by a group of independent experts at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), led by its President, Professor Jeffrey Sachs.
Media Contacts:
Alyson Marks | Alyson.Marks@unsdsn.org (Head of Communications and External Relations, U.S.-based)
Guillaume Lafortune | guillaume.lafortune@unsdsn.org (VP of the SDSN, Lead Coordinator and Report Author, France-based)
About SDSN:
The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has been operating since 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. SDSN mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. We aim to accelerate joint learning and promote integrated approaches that address the interconnected economic, social, and environmental challenges confronting the world.
SDSN Japan:
SDSN Japan was established in 2015 as the Japanese hub of the global SDSN network (i) to address sustainability issues(ii) to achieve the SDGs, (iii) to build a platform for collaboration among various stakeholders, (iv) to follow international initiatives and (v) to develop actions to implement the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.
Norichika Kanie | Chair
Tarek Katramiz | Network Manager
[1] The list of members of SDSN’s Leadership Council is available here: https://www.unsdsn.org/leadership-council.
2023-06-16
持続可能な開発目標（SDGs）の達成に向け、様々なアクターが協働する慶應義塾大学SFC研究所xSDG・ラボ（所在地：神奈川県藤沢市、代表：蟹江 憲史、以下慶應義塾大学）は、国際航業株式会社（本社：東京都新宿区、代表取締役社長：土方 聡、以下国際航業）、GIS（地理情報システム）パッケージソフトウェア国内最大手（※）の ESRIジャパン株式会社（東京都千代田区：代表取締役会長兼社長 正木 千陽、以下「ESRIジャパン」）との共同研究により、日本国内における自治体・企業・団体等のSDGs推進状況を可視化するプラットフォームを目指す「SDGs Today Japan」を開発し、2023年6月14日（水）に無償公開致しました。
▶ SDGs Today Japan < https://portal-sdgstodayjapan.hub.arcgis.com ＞
＜SDGｓ Ｔｏｄａｙ Ｊａｐａｎ開発の背景＞
２０１６年から２０３０年を対象期間とする持続可能な開発目標（以下、ＳＤＧｓ）は、すでに折り返し地点を迎え、ますます達成に向けて活動の加速が求められています。ＳＤＧｓの達成状況を“測る”方法の一つとして、各ゴール、指標に対応した数値データの可視化が挙げられます。その際に、ＳＤＧｓに関連する数値データを地図上に可視化することで、新たな政策や企業行動を考える際の有効な検討材料になると考えます。
SDGs Today Japanは、日本国内の各地域の現状を可視化のためにＧＩＳを活用し、優良事例等を掲載する総合的なプラットフォーム機能を備えたハブサイトとして、日本国内でのＳＤＧｓに強い関心を持つ方、ＳＤＧｓに携わる方への貢献を目指します。
＜SDGs Today米国版＞
SDGs Today 米国版は日本版の先行的な取り組みであり、米国Ｅｓｒｉ社と持続可能な開発のためのソリューションネットワーク（ＳＤＳＮ）が共同で運営しているサイトになります。SＤＧｓ Ｔｏｄａｙは、ＳＤＧｓの１７の目標やターゲットに関する数値データを世界地図上で可視化し、各国の状況を理解することができるデータハブサイトです。
＜SDGs Today Japan 概要＞
SDGs Today Japanでは、主に日本のSDGsの進捗に焦点を当て、各組織が取り組んでいるＳＤＧｓの進捗状況・達成度についてＧＩＳを用いてわかりやすく事例を紹介しています。
発信している情報コンテンツは、「ＧＩＳを用いた指標データを可視化したコンテンツ」と「ＳＤＧｓ達成に向けた取り組みをストーリーマップで紹介するコンテンツ」に大別されます。
「GISを用いた指標データを可視化したコンテンツ」例 神奈川県内のSDGsの取組みの進捗状況を測定するための指標候補を選定し、その指標候補を地図やグラフで可視化するダッシュボードを作成。ダッシュボードにおいて、指標候補と年度を選択することで、対象年の数値を市町村または市区町村ごとに地図上で色分け表示ができます。また、対象自治体の指標候補の数値を時系列で表示するグラフ機能もあるので、指標候補の数値の経年変化を確認することができます。
「SDGs達成に向けた取組みをストーリーマップで紹介するコンテンツ」例
ストーリーマップとは、地図とテキスト、画像、映像などを組み合わせたストーリー仕立てのアプリのことをいい、地域や場所と関連したストーリーを効果的に伝えることができます。食品ロスを題材にしたストーリーマップでは、家庭系食品ロスの排出が少ない層について、神奈川県の市町村の各統計情報（年齢、世帯員構成、所得）と地図を用いて傾向を探っています。
＜今後の展望＞
SDGs Today Japanは、今後の益々のコンテンツの充実を目指し、全国の自治体や企業、ＮＧＯ及びＮＰＯなどによる社会課題の解決に向けた具体的な取組みの掲載を行っていきます。地図情報（GIS）を有効に活用し、様々な情報のハブサイトとしての性格を併せ持つSDGs Today Japanが、2030年のＳＤＧｓの達成に向け、ステークホルダーが新たな行動を検討する際の重要な情報となり得るほか、新たな連携を生み出し、社会を変革するための動きを加速化させることを期待しています。
また、xSDG・ラボ代表の蟹江憲史が議長を務めるSDSN Japanとも連携し、国際的な展開も検討していきます。
※デロイト トーマツ ミック経済研究所 ビジネス・アナリティクス市場展望2022年版 https://mic-r.co.jp/mr/02290/
