Europe sustainable development report 2022: achieving the SDGs

Europe’s compass in a multipolar world- includes the SDG index for the European Union, its member states, and partner countries

The SDG index provides a measurement of human welfare that by design goes beyond GDP, by including 110 indicators covering social and economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. It also penalizes countries for outsourcing negative social and environmental impacts to the rest of the world through unsustainable supply chains and consumptions or profit shifting and tax evasion. This report shows that EU has made on average very little progress on the Goals since 2020.The COVID-19 pandemic and other international crises have in fact led to reversals in progress in many European countries, notably on SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 3 (Good health and well-being) and SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth). The EU has achieved, or is on track to achieve, around 66% of the SDG targets, yet progress has been limited on 20% of the indicators and is heading in the wrong direction on 13%. The EU faces its biggest challenges in the areas of responsible consumption and production and sustainable food systems (SDG 2 and SDGs 12-15). Finally, while they top the global SDG Index due to better performance on socioeconomic SDGs, European countries generate significant spillover effects on the rest of the world, notably through unsustainable supply chains. Achievement of SDG 17 (Partnerships for the goals) also face significant challenges in Europe, partly because only four EU members have met the target of dedicating 0.7% of their gross national income to official development assistance.