Little progress recorded five years after the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

BySusanna Gevorgyan

Little progress recorded five years after the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

 

The overall progress achieved on sustainable development in the last two years has been described as poor by the majority of sustainability professionals with the goals of Reduced Inequality, Life on Land and Life Below Water rated the most negatively. At the same time, climate action continues to be the goal that receives the most attention.

This data was revealed in the GlobeScan-SustainAbility Survey 2021 – Evaluating Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) report produced by GlobeScan and the SustainAbility Institute.

The report is based on a survey conducted by the institute among nearly 500 sustainability professionals from 75 countries. The experts, who expressed their views regarding each SDG individually as well as for the overall performance, criticized the progress made and voiced concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic could slow down the advancement even further.

In particular, the number of respondents expressing disappointment regarding the performance in achieving the SDGs has grown over the last two years, reaching 54% compared to 49% recorded within a similar survey in 2019.

African and the Middle East professionals were the most optimistic about the progress achieved on sustainable development during the last two years as well as the respondents representing the corporate sector. On the other hand, European experts and those professionals representing the fields of academia and research were the most skeptical and critical.

Progress made to date in the transition to sustainable development globally. (1 – “very poor” and 5 is “excellent”)

Source: GlobeScan-SustainAbility Survey 2021

Responses on SDGs progress according to regions, sectors, and experiences

Source: GlobeScan-SustainAbility Survey 2021

Among others, Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10), Life on Land (SDG 15), and Life Below Water (SDG 14) registered the lowest results, respectively receiving 82%, 72%, and 75% of the votes on poor progress. Meanwhile, improvements in the Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure (SDG 9) and Partnership for the Goals (SDG 17) were believed to be positive according to some experts, but still, only 21% and 19% respectively of the respondents voted for positive progress having been made.

Source: GlobeScan-SustainAbility Survey 2021

Chris Coulter, CEO at GlobeScan, noted that the experts had given the world a failing grade for the progress made towards the SDGs.

“We need to take their assessment seriously if we are to truly make this the Decade of Action. It is especially extraordinary that 84% of stakeholders rate our collective performance as poor when it comes to reducing inequalities. We must do better.”

At the same time, in the 2020 Sustainable Development Goals Report by the UN, the organization’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted that before the COVID-19 pandemic, progress remained uneven and we were not on track to meet the Goals by 2030.

“Now, due to COVID-19, an unprecedented health, economic and social crisis is threatening lives and livelihoods, making the achievement of Goals even more challenging.”, he added.

Progress towards Climate Change

With regard to the SDG on Climate Change, respondents from all regions except Africa and the Middle East indicated this as being the most urgent. Moreover, experts mentioned that Climate Change receives the most attention from the companies within which they work.

Source: GlobeScan-SustainAbility Survey 2021

Novel SDG instrument and study from Truvalue, FactSet

FactSet, an organization providing data and software solutions, has announced a novel instrument, the Truvalue Labs SDG Monitor, which is designed to measure the alignment of businesses to the SDGs across different regions in real-time. In the meantime, the Truvalue ESG Investor Forum 2020 has revealed that 28% of companies consider their investment strategy is aligned with UN SDGs while 42% expressed their willingness to align. At the same time, 72% of respondents recognized social factors as the hardest element to examine with environmental factors following this. According to FactSet, this outcome reveals that better data for the social and environmental factors could be a core solution for wider SDG implementation.

DevelopmentAid has previously reported on another tool that traces the financing of the SDGs, launched by the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development (OECD) – the SDG Financing Lab.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the world leaders at the 2015 United Nations summit are expected to guide humanity in its efforts to halt climate change, put an end to poverty, and fight inequalities.