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Initial progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): a review of evidence from countries

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Abstract

The global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) commenced in 2016 and provide an evidence-based framework for sustainable development planning and programming until 2030. There is emerging international practice and a growing catalogue of related reviews, assessments, guidelines and publications. While the expert community is clearly emphasising the need to adopt evidence- and science-based approaches to SDG implementation, policymakers now face the challenge of implementing the SDGs simultaneously in a coherent and integrated manner. Regular systematic reviews of national progress and approaches to implementing the SDGs are advisable to ensure that emerging science and knowledge is effectively informing national practice. This paper reviews the recent academic and expert literature as well as national experience in implementing the SDGs in 26 countries. It uses a systematic approach to analyse the degree to which key implementation stages and approaches recommended in the expert literature are being adopted and applied to support national SDG implementation on-the-ground. The review highlights that while progress has been made in some initial planning stages, key gaps remain in terms of the assessment of interlinkages, trade-offs and synergies between targets. Gaps are also clearly evident in the adoption of systems thinking and integrated analytical approaches and models. This is problematic as it may undermine effective implementation and the transformative potential of the SDGs. As more countries turn their attention to the SDGs, the review underscores the considerable risk that they will pursue the same ‘siloed’ or ‘linear’ approaches to sustainable development that have met with limited success in the past.

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Notes

  1. See also, the SDG Acceleration Toolkit of the United Nations Development Group: https://undg.org/2030-agenda/sdg-acceleration-toolkit/guidance/.

  2. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/vnrs/.

  3. Keywords used included: ‘sustainable development goals’, ‘agenda 2030’, ‘national SDG implementation’, ‘SDG assessment’, ‘SDG guideline’, ‘SDG toolkit’, ‘SDG analysis’, ‘SDG systems’, ‘SDG model’, ‘SDG evidence’, ‘SDG baseline’, ‘SDG indicator’, ‘SDG transformation’, ‘SDG transition’, ‘SDG interlinkages’, ‘SDG interactions’.

  4. 44 countries submitted VNRs in 2017, while 22 countries submitted VNRs in 2016: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/vnrs/.

  5. To select the initial long-list of case studies, a keyword search was undertaken through the internet to identify countries that had published research, plans or other reviews that adequately documented their initial approach and efforts in implementing the SDGs. Keywords used were: ‘national SDG implementation’, ‘national SDG plan strategy’, ‘SDG plan strategy’, ‘national SDG assessment’, ‘national sustainable development plan’, ‘national SDG road map’, ‘SDG road map’, and ‘national pathways modelling’.

  6. Including representation from Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and Land-Locked Developing Countries (LLDCs).

  7. https://undg.org/2030-agenda/sdg-acceleration-toolkit/guidance/.

  8. https://un-desa-modelling.github.io/.

  9. These include the iSDGs system dynamics model of the Millennium Institute (http://www.isdgs.org/), and the Pardee Centre’s International Futures model (http://pardee.du.edu/), amongst others.

  10. Tier I = clear method and regularly produced; tier II = clear method but data not regularly produced; tier III = no method.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the insightful and useful comments and feedback received by the anonymous peer reviewers. The lead author is the recipient of an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. Funding was provided by Australian Department of Education and Training (Research Training Program Award).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PANGEA Centre, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Cameron Allen & Graciela Metternicht

  2. Sustainability Assessment Program (SAP), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Thomas Wiedmann

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  1. Cameron Allen
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  2. Graciela Metternicht
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Correspondence to Cameron Allen.

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Handled by Bhanu Neupane, UNESCO, France.

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Allen, C., Metternicht, G. & Wiedmann, T. Initial progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): a review of evidence from countries. Sustain Sci 13, 1453–1467 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0572-3

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