The Sustainable Development Report shows that none of the sustainable development goals are on track to be met in global terms. Finland leads the ranking.
Portugal ranks 16th out of 167 countries in terms of compliance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a score of 80.2. More than half of the 17 SDGs are defined as “achieved” or “in progress”, but there is still a lot to do.
This is revealed in the 9th edition of the Sustainable Development Report,released by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). At a global level, no SDG is on track to be achieved by 2030 and only around 16% of the targets that make up the goals are making progress.
In the index, the achievement of each goal is assessed on a four-color scale, from green (SDG achieved) to red (major challenges in achievement), passing through the intermediate colors yellow (challenges remain) and orange (significant challenges remain).
Although the Portuguese state is slightly above the regional average (77.2), the only objective considered to have been achieved was the eradication of extreme poverty. Portugal has also made progress in the areas of gender equality, clean and affordable energy, and sustainable cities and communities, but there are still challenges to overcome.
On the other hand, moderate progress was made in seven SDGs: health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth, industry/innovation and infrastructure, reducing inequalities, climate action and partnerships for the goals. The areas of health, decent work, gender equality, clean and affordable energy and sustainable cities and communities are classified in yellow.
In red are the SDGs corresponding to ending hunger, responsible production and consumption, climate action, aquatic life and establishing partnerships to achieve the goals.
Orange was assigned to the SDGs of clean water and sanitation, reducing inequalities and industry/innovation and infrastructure.
Although there has not been a general record of backsliding in the achievement of the SDGs, the report points to some SDGs that are tending to stagnate, namely the end of hunger, quality of education, responsible production and consumption, aquatic life, terrestrial life and peace, justice and strong institutions.
The report also analyzed the efforts and commitment of all countries to UN-based multilateralism and the implementation of the SDG on partnerships. Portugal ranks 100th with a score of 69.6, in a list led by Barbados (92.0) and closed by the USA (15.8). One of the report’s conclusions focuses precisely on the need for global cooperation to tackle the challenges.
Global progress on the SDGs has been stagnant since 2020, with the “grand challenges” falling on six SDGs: ending hunger, health and well-being, sustainable communities and cities, marine life, terrestrial life and peace, justice and strong institutions.
According to the document, the SDG targets related to food and land systems are “particularly off track”. The trend is changing in the goals and targets related to basic access to infrastructure and services, although progress is still too slow and uneven between countries. For the SDG on reducing inequalities, there is not even enough data to accurately assess the trend.
Even the best-performing countries – Finland, Sweden and Denmark – face major challenges in achieving several SDGs, including ending hunger, responsible consumption and production, climate action and life on land.
The countries ranked with the lowest scores – Yemen, Somalia, Chad, Central African Republic and South Sudan – are countries that tend to be affected by military conflicts, security issues and political or socio-economic instability.
“Since 2015, average SDG progress in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and BRICS+ countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) has exceeded the global average, while East and South Asia has emerged as the region that has made the most progress towards the SDGs. In contrast, the gap between the global average performance on the SDGs and the performance of the poorest and most vulnerable countries, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS), has widened since 2015,” reads the report.
The last conclusion of this issue concerns the role of long-term investment in sustainable development. The report underlines the urgency of reforming the global financial architecture, especially access to capital for low-income and lower-middle-income countries, so that they can invest on a large scale and achieve their SDGs. “Mobilizing the necessary levels of funding will require new institutions, new forms of global financing (including global taxation) and new priorities for global financing (such as investment in quality education for all),” the document notes.
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