SDGs data drive transformational change: reality or fiction?
By IIPP MPA students Charles Beaudry and Daniela Alvarado
We have reached the mid-point of the 2030 Agenda, and the situation is critical.
In 2015, the United Nations (UN) formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, described as “a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity,” designed to tackle poverty, promote peace, and ensure sustainable development. It set out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — a set of 17 interlinked goals with measurable targets. In September 2023, the 2030 Agenda will reach a major milestone — the halfway point. The 193 UN member states will meet for the second time since adopting the 2030 Agenda at the 2023 SDG Summit, to discuss SDG implementation and the next steps. As the UK government prepares to attend, it is a good moment to reflect on the UK’s progress, leadership and vision for implementing the SDGs.
A former pioneer
The UK has an interesting history when it comes to sustainable development. While it was the first EU member to publish a sustainable development strategy in 1994 and played a crucial role in creating the SDGs, it has shifted over the last decade towards a more sectoral approach, delegating the integration of sustainable development and SDGs into all departmental action plans since 2017. This shift has resulted in a lack of a whole-of-government strategy to drive progress on the SDGs in the UK. For instance, only the UK and Portugal did not account for a cross-sectoral strategy within the EU in 2019, unlike the best-performing countries, Denmark and Finland, which have an updated overarching strategy operationalised and linked to their national budget (EU parliament, 2019, p. 21). As our colleague Abby Hauver highlighted in a previous blog post, the ultimate responsibility for SDGs in the UK remains unclear.
This statement is especially true when considering the UK’s SDG progress reporting. The first comprehensive assessment of the UK’s progress, the Measuring-Up report, was initiated and elaborated by the UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD) rather than the government. A year later, the UK government responded by delivering its first (and so far only) Voluntary National Review (VNR), which all UN member states committed to doing at least once. Since then, various stakeholders have advocated for a more explicit government commitment to SDG implementation, such as a new VNR following the COVID-19 outbreak.
In the past year, no official statement issued by the head of state which explicitly endorses the implementation of the SDGs can be found in the UK. This differs from the likes of the SDG Advocates co-chairs Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley and Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, who have been more vocal about their political commitment. However, it is important to differentiate political commitment from government commitment. Although 193 countries committed to the 2030 Agenda, comprehensive research demonstrated that those benefiting from strong political and institutional commitment and a dedicated budget line for the SDGs were more likely to drive transformational change towards the goals.
Making progress?
Given this silence and halted progress, the UN Global Compact Network UK (now continuing the UKSSD mission) mobilised hundreds of stakeholders last year to conduct research and publish a second progress assessment, the Measuring Up 2.0 report. The report thoroughly assessed SDG implementation in the UK, and the conclusions were striking:
“The UK only performs well on 17% of the 132 targets. There are gaps in policy or inadequate performance for 64% of them, and 11% where there is little to no policy in place to address the target and where performance is poor or even declining. For the remaining 8% of targets, gaps in available or appropriate data made it impossible to measure the UK’s performance at this time.”
As research assistants for the UK Sustainable Development Solutions Network over the past 10 weeks, hosted by UCL IIPP, we have found these results particularly intriguing, especially given that the UK ranked 11th in the world in 2022 for its achievement towards the SDGs.
The UK’s unstable economic and political context, the impact of Brexit, the geopolitical turmoil, or the post-COVID-19 era may have contributed to government priorities being directed away from the 2030 Agenda. However, perhaps we should ask whether the SDGs should play a primary part in the political strategy of the UK or whether the greater UK SDG community should unite more strongly in the second half of 2030 to apply more bottom-up pressure, as a way to increase the government’s accountability.
Join the discussion
To explore this topic further, we are launching a series of four blogs to share our reflections and findings.
Our next blog will look closer at how SDG monitoring and reporting happens in reality and how different stakeholders can use the data. Blog three will revisit the theory of change behind SDGs, exploring the interrelations between data, governance and accountability. Our fourth and final blog will set out a proposed action plan to drive change, and SDGs will progress more effectively in the second half towards 2030 based on our conclusions and findings.
The series’ aim is to spark new innovative thinking on how to accelerate SDG progress while revisiting the assumptions behind the theory of change. If you’d like to join the discussion, please get in touch with us!
