With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the UN General Assembly in 2015, world leaders have agreed on a master plan with which we can transform our planet in a sustainable manner. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are our vision which we must meet in order to give future generations the ability to live on a healthy planet and in a society that leaves no one behind. However, we are lagging behind in the implementation. Although European countries are leading globally, none of them are on track to achieve the goals by 2030, which will have severe impacts on current and future generations.

On June 22nd, Eurostat released its new “Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context”, with which the implementation status of the SDGs should be measured. For every SDG and EU member state, the report analyses the progress that has been made in the past five years. It concludes that the EU and its member states have been making progress in achieving 13 SDGs. However, this states not only that we are forgetting about the other four SDGs but also the velocity in which we are implementing the other ones is much too slow. While the report claims that “Sustainable development objectives have been at the heart of European policy-making for a long time” (p. 9), EU efforts have not been strong enough to meet the SDGs until 2030.

The report uses more than 100 statistical indicators to give evidence for its conclusion that the EU is making progress. Of course, evaluating and choosing the right indicators is not easy. Indeed, Eurostat was entrusted with the challenging task of choosing the right indicators which on the one hand properly reflect the EU’s progress and on the other hand are available. The statistical data collection process for the indicators can differ across the Member States and should be a neutral process which provides objectivity instead of biased information. However, it is highly politicised. What are the best indicators to show progress in the EU? Do we just consider what happens in the EU or do we take external effects caused by the EU into account as well?

SDG Watch Europe gives an example: While “the EU is the world region most dependent on imported raw materials which comes with heavy social and environmental impacts in other parts of the world Eurostat looks at Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) as an indicator for SDG 12 on sustainable consumption and production. But this does not properly reflect global material footprints and does not consider all the materials extracted to produce the goods that the European public consumes. The Raw Material Equivalent (RME) of European imports is around 2.5 times higher.”.

The remarkably slow progress on implementation of the environmental SDGs weighs even heavier than the criticism of the statistics. Climate Action (SDG 13) efforts will most likely be insufficient to meet the EU’s GHG reduction 2030 target. And even if GHG emissions are decreasing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic (the report does not consider the recent coronavirus consequences) many have also warned that emissions will quickly rebound. In the aftermath of the pandemic, emissions could go back to the level they were before and mitigation policies may become even less ambitious.  

Progress on SDG 14, life below water, cannot be exactly measured due to a lack of data showing developments in species and habitats protection measures. However, pressure on ecosystems and biodiversity (SDG 15) intensified and is overall in an insufficient condition. But also the progress in regard to SDG 2, zero hunger, is deeply interlinked with environmental issues and shows that the EU is still struggling with establishing sustainable food systems. For instance, the report shows that ammonia emissions and groundwater pollution with nitrates are far too high.

In terms of gender equality (SDG 5) the EU and its member states seem to be moving in the wrong direction: While women across the EU are better educated than men the gap of gender employment has even widened and also the pay gap remains high. In addition, many more women than men continue to fulfill caring responsibility. Overall, the report states negative development.

But not everything is bad: All of the indicators for SDG 16, peace, justice and strong institutions, show favorable trends for the EU over the past five years. According to the report, life in the EU has become safer and deaths due to homicide or assaults have fallen considerably. While the perceived independence of justice systems and the citizen’s confidence in EU institutions increased in the past five years, the EU and its member states have to ensure that these efforts will not be undermined by current developments showing increasingly political interventions in justice systems. Instead, fundamental rights must be ensured for all EU citizens and nobody must be left behind.

The data show clearly that even though EU member states are among the most privileged countries in the world possessing resources to ambitiously implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development only a little progress has been made since 2015.

Statements of highlighting the importance of SDGs is not enough. The European Commission has to propose a coherent strategy of how the EU can achieve all goals until 2030. For the well-being of our and future generations, it is essential that we achieve the SDGs. While we are the ones who have to live with the consequences of unsustainable policies, we are not asked and do not have a seat at the table when EU policymakers decide upon our future. It is therefore crucial to involve young people in the decision-making process of the EU to contribute to the efforts to meet the Global Goals.