How much more effort will be needed to reach the new Sustainable Development Goals? At the time when the focus moves from negotiation to implementation, this paper gathers the best available global projections and finds that unless significant changes are made to how we approach them, the 17 goals will not be met. A call for action rather than a prediction of failure, it stresses the importance of political will and citizen buy-in to accelerate progress.
Moving beyond debates on the formulation of the SDG framework, the report reviews trends and projections to see how far they will take us towards the goals and a selected number of targets (17 of the 169). It draws on data from a range of international organisations and, where data was lacking, the authors created their own based on ODI’s own research.
Case studies highlighting regional successes and warnings of future challenges are included throughout, with Sub-Saharan Africa generally set to be further behind than elsewhere. No goals are found to be fully on track, but current trajectories suggest that by 2030 three of the 17 goals will be halfway achieved:
- ending extreme poverty
- economic growth in least-developed countries
- halting deforestation
There will need to be a drastic reversal of current trajectories if there will be progress made towards the following goals:
- reducing inequality
- limiting slum populations
- combating climate change
- reducing waste
- protecting marine environments
Recommendations
- Early action to raise country-level ambitions and plan implementation – political momentum and citizen buy-in is crucial.
- Need to account for regional/country level variables.
- Inclusivity – the core principle underpinning the SDGs – must be addressed in all goals.
- Learn lessons from top performing countries across different goals.
