Sustainable Development Report 2023: Implementing the SDG Stimulus
About this book
Sustainable Development Report 2023: Implementing the SDG Stimulus, edited by Jeffrey D. Sachs, Guillaume Lafortune, Christian Kroll and others from the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Bertelsmann Stiftung, provides the annual independent assessment of SDG progress across all 193 UN member states. Published annually since 2016, the Sustainable Development Report is distinct from the official UN SDG Report in providing country rankings, composite SDG Index scores, and independent expert analysis rather than official government reporting.
The 2023 edition is structured around the concept of the SDG Stimulus — a proposed package of policy reforms and financial commitments designed to reboot SDG progress at the halfway point to 2030. The SDG Index, which aggregates performance data across all 17 goals and their indicators into a single 0-100 score, shows global average progress stalling: the world average score increased by only 0.5 points in 2023, far below the approximately 1 point per year improvement needed to reach the global average of 80/100 by 2030. The Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway) continue to top the SDG Index, with scores above 82/100, though even these high performers face significant challenges in SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption), reflecting the difficulty of aligning high living standards with planetary boundaries.
Central African countries, conflict-affected states, and small island developing states consistently appear at the bottom of the index. The SDG Stimulus package proposed in the report has five components: mobilising approximately $500 billion annually in additional SDG financing from public and private sources; expanding access to affordable long-term finance for developing countries; ensuring adequate liquidity in the international financial system; addressing the debt crisis through multilateral restructuring mechanisms; and reforming multilateral development banks to increase their risk appetite and private capital mobilisation capacity. Thematic chapters examine SDG progress in education (COVID learning losses, growing digital divide), health (pandemic recovery, universal health coverage gaps), climate and energy (renewable energy deployment versus emissions reduction trajectory), and biodiversity (implementation gaps in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework).