A cura di Flaminia Marchetti, policy analyst, Laura Morreale, policy analyst e Silvia Porcaro, policy analyst
The OECD and its tracker
On April 27th, the OECD published the 4th edition of “The Short and Winding Road to 2030: Measuring Distance to the SDG Targets” report. The report leverages UN and OECD data to provide a high-level assessment of the performance of OECD countries by looking at their current achievements, whether they have been moving towards or away from the targets, and how likely they are to meet their commitments by 2030.
According to the assessment, despite the fact that progress has been made since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Goals, OECD countries have met or are close to meet only a quarter of the targets for which performance can be gauged.
Where we really are
The figure shows how the OECD area is on the right track towards achieving only fews of the targets covered by the SDGs, mainly those relating to securing basic needs and to the implementation of policy tools and frameworks. The OECD region as a whole has secured decent living standards for its population and most countries have already adopted or implemented a handful of policy instruments mentioned in the 2030 Agenda. OECD countries are able to provide access to some basic amenities, including sanitation, fresh water and energy. Moreover, they have also been able to reduce maternal and infant mortality, to afford access to early childhood education, to provide modern education facilities and a legal identity to all citizens.
However, “The Short and Winding Road to 2030: Measuring Distance to the SDG Targets” report, highlights that while OECD countries have eradicated extreme poverty, most of them need to do more to reduce deprivation more broadly since only few of them are estimated to be able to fully prevent social exclusion or reduce malnutrition by 2030.
The OECD report also focuses on the progress and challenges on the climate front. Although some improvements were achieved in decoupling greenhouse gas emissions from population and GDP growth, total emissions are hardly decreasing, and all OECD countries are continuing to support the production and consumption of fossil fuels. As for biodiversity, despite some encouraging developments in protecting ecosystems, threats to terrestrial and marine biodiversity have been rising. Similarly, progress regarding natural resources management issues was made on many fronts including energy intensity, water use and municipal waste management. However, while some of these positive developments are attributable to policy action and technical progress, the displacement of resource and pollution-intensive production abroad also explains some of this progress. Therefore, the report confirms that environmental pressure is rising since the use of material resources to support economic growth remains high, and many valuable materials continue to be disposed of as waste.
A call for more effort
The report highlights that there is significant heterogeneity in the performances of OECD countries across goals and target and that in many areas OECD countries still have a long road to travel In particular, countries have scope to strengthen their efforts to ensure that no one is left behind, to restore trust in institutions and to limit pressures on the natural environment.
These results suggest that the “Decade of Action for the Sustainable Development Goals” is mired in uncertainty. As the 2030 deadline for the SDGs approaches, the report calls for a deeper reflection and much stronger policy actions. The United Nations and the international community at large will need to start working on a new framework for global policy action that will build on the strength of the 2030 Agenda while also addressing the shortcomings of the existing SDGs.