Usubiaga-Liano, Arkaitz;
Fairbrass, Alison;
Ekins, Paul;
(2024)
Strong sustainability and the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Global Sustainability
, 7
, Article e52. 10.1017/sus.2024.47.
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Abstract
Non-technical summary The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are at the core of the development agenda. Despite their wide adoption, it is still unclear the extent to which they can provide insights on environmental sustainability. The paper presents an assessment of the potential of the indicators used in the SDGs to track environmental sustainability. The results show that only a few SDG indicators describe the state of the environment, and those that do so, do not, generally, have science-based targets that describe whether environmental sustainability conditions are met. The latter aspect should be reinforced in framework that will replace the SDGs after 2030. Technical summary The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are at the core of the development agenda. Despite their wide adoption, it is still unclear whether they can be used to monitor environmental sustainability, if this is to be understood from a strong sustainability perspective. The paper presents an assessment of the adequacy of the indicator sets used by United Nations, Eurostat, OECD, and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for strong sustainability monitoring. The results show that most environmental indicators do not have science-based environmental standards that reflect whether natural capital meets environmental sustainability conditions, thereby preventing their use as strong sustainability indicators. While meeting the SDGs would likely contribute to improving environmental performance, on their own they are not adequate to monitor progress toward it. Complementary scientifically grounded metrics are needed to track the underlying state of natural capital that provides non-substitutable functions. The strong sustainability dimension within the SDGs will need to be strengthened in post-2030 sustainable development monitoring framework. Social media summary The Sustainable Development Goals are insufficient to monitor environmental sustainability.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Strong sustainability and the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1017/sus.2024.47 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2024.47 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | environmental indicators; SDGs; strong sustainability; sustainability indicators; sustainable development goals; sustainable development |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10205988 |
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