Sustainable Development Report 2024

About Sustainable Development Report (SDR):

• It reviews progress made each year on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since their adoption by the 193 UN Member States in 2015.
• It is annually published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).
• Highlights of SDR 2024:
  • Published on the eve of the UN Summit of the Future, the SDR 2024 recommends a set of key reforms to the UN system to meet the challenges of the 21st century. 
  • Theme: The SDGs and the UN Summit of the Future
  • This year’s edition also presents a new index of countries’ support for UN-based multilateralism and discusses long-term pathways to attain sustainable food and land systems.
  • This year, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark top the rankings. 
  • Globally, only 16% of the SDG targets are on track to be achieved by 2030, with the remaining 84% showing limited progress or its reversal.
  • The pace of progress varies widely across country groups. Nordic countries continue to lead on SDG achievement, with BRICS demonstrating strong progress and poor and vulnerable nations lagging far behind. 
  • Sustainable development remains a long-term investment challenge. Reforming the Global Financial Architecture is more urgent than ever.
  • Global challenges require global cooperation. Barbados ranks the highest in its commitment to UN-based multilateralism; the United States ranks last.
  • SDG targets related to food and land systems are particularly off-track. The SDR presents new FABLE (Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land, and Energy) pathways to support sustainable food and land systems.

What is the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)?

• The UN SDSN works under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General to mobilize the world’s universities, think tanks, and national laboratories for action on the SDGs and the Paris Agreement; empower societies through free online education; and translate scientific evidence and ideas into solutions and accountability.

Established in 2012 by the former UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, and world-renowned economist and professor, Jeffrey Sachs, the SDSN promotes integrated approaches to implement the SDGs and the Paris Agreement, through education, research, policy analysis, and global cooperation.

Q1: What are Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

Source: World falling behind on environment, health and hunger goals, UN report says