Paris, 05 December 2022: The 4th edition of the Europe Sustainable Development Report (ESDR) was released on Mon, 5th December. It includes the SDG Index and Dashboards which track progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the EU, its member states and partner countries. The report shows that, seven years after the SDG’s adoption by the international community and amid multiple crises, the EU`s progress on the SDGs has stalled. Based on trend data available since 2015, the EU is still on track achieving around two-thirds of the targets, yet a third of the targets show insufficient progress or are heading in the wrong direction, especially those related to responsible consumption, climate and biodiversity (SDG2; 12-15). Through unsustainable consumption and trade the EU generates large negative spillovers on the rest of the world.
Guillaume Lafortune, Vice President of the SDSN and lead author of the report, states that:
“In the midst of multiple health, security, climate, and financial crises the SDGs remain the future Europe and the world want. By living up to the ambitions of the European Green Deal at home and strengthening access to international SDG financing, the EU can achieve its strategic objectives and rally other countries to its values centered around human dignity, freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. The EU’s leadership and diplomacy will remain critical to advancing key multilateral processes towards achieving the SDGs including at the UN Heads of States’ SDG Summit in September 2023 and UN Summit of the Future in 2024.”
Adolf Kloke-Lesch, Co-Chair of SDSN Europe, emphasizes:
“Diplomacy, peace, and global cooperation are fundamental preconditions for making any progress on sustainable development. The EU should ensure a proactive and SDG oriented foreign and security policy and invest in its international partnerships. In a multipolar world, peace cannot be assured solely through ‘defense against’ thinking but also requires a ‘cooperation for’ approach: for a sustainable, peaceful future. In view of the mid-point in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, it is now the time for the EU to rise to the occasion and invest “whatever it takes” in the global common good, epitomized and documented in the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.”