research topics on sustainable development goals

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Research Article

Impact of the Sustainable Development Goals on the academic research agenda. A scientometric analysis

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Research Institute on Policies for Social Transformation, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Córdoba, Spain

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Public Policy Observatory, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago, Chile

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Department of Finance and Accounting, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Córdoba, Spain

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Social Matters Research Group, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Córdoba, Spain

• Antonio Sianes, 
• Alejandro Vega-Muñoz, 
• Pilar Tirado-Valencia, 
• Antonio Ariza-Montes

• Published: March 17, 2022
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265409
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

Today, global challenges such as poverty, inequality, and sustainability are at the core of the academic debate. This centrality has only increased since the transition from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), whose scope is to shift the world on to a path of resilience focused on promoting sustainable development. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a critical yet comprehensive scientometric analysis of the global academic production on the SDGs, from its approval in 2015 to 2020, conducted using Web of Science (WoS) database. Despite it being a relatively short period of time, scholars have published more than five thousand research papers in the matter, mainly in the fields of green and sustainable sciences. The attained results show how prolific authors and schools of knowledge are emerging, as key topics such as climate change, health and the burden diseases, or the global governance of these issues. However, deeper analyses also show how research gaps exist, persist and, in some cases, are widening. Greater understanding of this body of research is needed, to further strengthen evidence-based policies able to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the SDGs.

Citation: Sianes A, Vega-Muñoz A, Tirado-Valencia P, Ariza-Montes A (2022) Impact of the Sustainable Development Goals on the academic research agenda. A scientometric analysis. PLoS ONE 17(3): e0265409. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265409

Editor: Stefano Ghinoi, University of Greenwich, UNITED KINGDOM

Received: September 10, 2021; Accepted: March 1, 2022; Published: March 17, 2022

Copyright: © 2022 Sianes et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

1. Introduction

1.1. from the millennium agenda to the 2030 agenda and the sustainable development goals (sdgs).

To track the origins of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we must recall the Millennium Agenda, which was the first global plan focused on fighting poverty and its more extreme consequences [ 1 ]. Approved in 2000, its guiding principle was that northern countries should contribute to the development of southern states via Official Development Assistance (ODA) flows. The commitment was to reach 0.7% of donors’ gross domestic product [ 2 ] to reduce poverty by half by 2015. The relative failure to reach this goal and the consolidation of a discourse of segregation between northern and southern countries [ 3 ] opened the door to strong criticism of the Millennium Agenda. Therefore, as 2015 approached, there were widespread calls for a profound reformulation of the system [ 4 ].

The world in 2015 was very different from that in the early 2000s. Globalization had reached every corner of the world, generating development convergence between countries but increasing inequalities within countries [ 5 , 6 ]. Increasing interest in the environmental crisis and other global challenges, such as the relocation of work and migration flows, consolidated a new approach to development and the need of a more encompassed agenda [ 7 ]. This new agenda was conceived after an integrating process that involved representatives from governments, cooperation agencies, nongovernmental organisations, global business, and academia. The willingness of the 2030 Agenda to ‘leave no one behind’ relies on this unprecedented global commitment by the international community [ 8 ].

As a result of this process, in 2015, the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted the document “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” [ 9 ], later known as the 2030 Agenda. This new global agenda is an all-comprising strategy that seeks to inform and orient public policies and private interventions in an extensive range of fields, from climate change to smart cities and from labour markets to birth mortality, among many others.

The declared scope of the Agenda is to shift the world on to a path of resilience focused on promoting sustainable development. To do so, the 2030 Agenda operates under the guidance of five principles, formally known as the ‘5 Ps’: people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnerships [ 10 ]. With these pivotal concepts in mind, the Agenda has established a total of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 specific targets to be pursued in a 15-year period, which reflects the scale and profound ambition of this new Agenda.

The SDGs do not only address what rich countries should do for the poor but rather what all countries should do together for the global well-being of this and future generations [ 4 ]. Thus, the SDGs cover a much broader range of issues than their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals [ 11 ], and are intended to be universal on the guidance towards a new paradigm of sustainable development that the international community has been demanding since the 1992 Earth Summit [ 7 , 12 , 13 ].

Despite this potential, some criticise their vagueness, weakness, and unambitious character. Fukuda-Parr [ 14 ], see weaknesses on the simplicity of the SDGs, which can lead to a very narrow conception that reduces the integral concept of development. The issue of measurement is also problematic; for some researchers, the quantification of objectives not only reduces their complexity, but leads to them being carried out without considering the interdependencies between the objectives [ 12 , 13 ]. Other authors have identified difficulties associated with specifying some of the less visible, intangible aspects of their qualitative nature such as inclusive development and green growth [ 14 , 15 ]. Finally, Stafford-Smith et al. [ 16 ] state that their successful implementation also requires paying greater attention to the links across sectors, across societal actors and between and among low-, medium-, and high-income countries.

Despite these criticisms, the SDGs have undoubtedly become the framework for what the Brundtland report defined as our common future. Unlike conventional development agendas that focus on a restricted set of dimensions, the SDGs provide a holistic and multidimensional view of development [ 17 ]. In this line, Le Blanc [ 12 ] concludes that the SDGs constitute a system with a global perspective; because they consider the synergies and trade-offs between the different issues involved in sustainable development, and favour comprehensive thinking and policies.

1.2. Towards a categorization of the SDGs

There is an underlying lack of unanimity in the interpretation of the SDGs, which has given rise to alternative approaches that allow categorizing the issues involved in their achievement without losing sight of the integral vision of sustainable development [ 15 , 18 – 23 ]. However, such categorization of the SDGs makes it possible to approach them in a more holistic and integrated way, focusing on the issues that underlie sustainable development and on trying to elucidate their connections.

Among the many systematization proposals, and following the contributions of Hajer et al. [ 19 ], four connected perspectives can strengthen the universal relevance of the SDGs: a) ‘planetary boundaries’ that emphasize the urgency of addressing environmental concerns and calling on governments to take responsibility for global public goods; b) ‘The safe and just operating space’ to highlight the interconnectedness of social and environmental issues and their consequences for the redistribution of wealth and human well-being; c) ‘The energetic society’ that avoids the plundering of energy resources; and d) ‘green competition’ to stimulate innovation and new business practices that limit the consumption of resources.

Planetary boundaries demand international policies that coordinate efforts to avoid overexploitation of the planet [ 24 ]. Issues such as land degradation, deforestation, biodiversity loss and natural resource overexploitation exacerbate poverty and deepen inequalities [ 21 , 25 – 27 ]. These problems are further compounded by the increasing impacts of climate change with clear ramifications for natural systems and societies around the globe [ 21 , 28 ].

A safe and just operating space implies social inclusivity that ensures equity principles for sharing opportunities for development [ 15 , 29 ]. Furthermore, it requires providing equitable access to effective and high-quality preventive and curative care that reduces global health inequalities [ 30 , 31 ] and promotes human well-being. Studies such as that of Kruk et al. [ 32 ] analyse the reforms needed in health systems to reduce mortality and the systemic changes necessary for high-quality care.

An energetic society demands global, regional and local production and consumption patterns as demands for energy and natural resources continue to increase, providing challenges and opportunities for poverty reduction, economic development, sustainability and social cohesion [ 21 ].

Finally, green competition establishes limits to the consumption of resources, engaging both consumers and companies [ 22 ] and redefining the relationship between firms and their suppliers in the supply chain [ 33 ]. These limits must also be introduced into life in cities, fostering a new urban agenda [ 34 , 35 ]. Poor access to opportunities and services offered by urban centres (a function of distance, transport infrastructure and spatial distribution) is a major barrier to improved livelihoods and overall development [ 36 ].

The diversification of development issues has opened the door to a wide range of new realities that must be studied under the guiding principles of the SDGs, which involve scholars from all disciplines. As Saric et al. [ 37 ] claimed, a shift in academic research is needed to contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. The identification of critical pathways to success based on sound research is needed to inform a whole new set of policies and interventions aimed at rendering the SDGs both possible and feasible [ 38 ].

1.3. The relevance and impact of the SDGs on academic research

In the barely five years since their approval, the SDGs have proven the ability to mobilize the scientific community and offer an opportunity for researchers to bring interdisciplinary knowledge to facilitate the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda [ 21 ]. The holistic vision of development considered in the SDGs has impacted very diverse fields of knowledge, such as land degradation processes [ 25 , 26 ], health [ 39 ], energy [ 40 ] and tourism [ 41 ], as well as a priori further disciplines such as earth observation [ 42 ] and neurosurgery [ 43 ]. However, more importantly, the inevitable interdependencies, conflicts and linkages between the different SDGs have also emerged in the analyses, highlighting ideas such as the need for systemic thinking that considers the spatial and temporal connectivity of the SDGs, which calls for multidisciplinary knowledge. According to Le Blanc [ 12 ], the identification of the systemic links between the objectives can be a valuable undertaking for the scientific community in the coming years and sustainable development.

Following this line, several scientific studies have tried to model the relationships between the SDGs in an attempt to clarify the synergies between the objectives, demonstrating their holistic nature [ 12 , 17 , 20 , 44 , 45 ]. This knowledge of interdependencies can bring out difficulties and risks, or conversely the drivers, in the implementation of the SDGs, which will facilitate their achievement [ 22 ]. In addition, it will allow proposing more transformative strategies to implement the SDG agenda, since it favours an overall vision that is opposed to the false illusion that global problems can be approached in isolation [ 19 ].

The lack of prioritisation of the SDGs has been one of the issues raised regarding their weakness, which should also be addressed by academics. For example, Gupta and Vegelin [ 15 ] analyse the dangers of inclusive development prioritising economic issues, relegating social or ecological inclusivity to the background, or the relational aspects of inclusivity that guarantee the existence of laws, policies and global rules that favour equal opportunities. Holden et al. [ 46 ] suggest that this prioritisation should be established according to three moral criteria: the satisfaction of human needs, social equity and respect for environmental limits. These principles must be based on ethical values that, according to Burford et al. [ 47 ], constitute the missing pillar of sustainability. In this way, the ethical imperatives of the SDGs and the values implicit in the discourses on sustainable development open up new possibilities for transdisciplinary research in the social sciences [ 46 , 47 ].

Research on SDG indicators has also been relevant in the academic world, as they offer an opportunity to replace conventional progress metrics such as gross domestic product (GDP) with other metrics more consistent with the current paradigm of development and social welfare that takes into account such aspects as gender equality, urban resilience and governance [ 20 , 48 ].

The study of the role of certain development agents, including companies, universities or supranational organisations, also opens up new areas of investigation for researchers. Some studies have shown the enthusiastic acceptance of the SDGs by companies [ 22 , 49 ]. For Bebbington and Unerman [ 50 ], the study of the role of organisations in achieving the SDGs should be centred around three issues: challenging definitions of entity boundaries to understand their full impacts, introducing new conceptual frameworks for analysis of the context within which organisations operate and re-examining the conceptual basis of justice, responsibility and accountability. On the other hand, the academic community has recognized that knowledge and education are two basic pillars for the transition towards sustainable development, so it may also be relevant to study the responsibility of higher education in achieving the SDGs [ 47 , 50 ]. Institutional sustainability and governance processes are issues that should be addressed in greater depth through research [ 47 ].

Finally, some authors have highlighted the role of information technologies (ICT) in achieving the SDGs [ 23 ] and their role in addressing inequality or vulnerability to processes such as financial exclusion [ 51 ], which opens up new avenues for research.

Despite this huge impact of the SDGs on academic research, to the best of our knowledge, an overall analysis of such an impact to understand its profoundness and capillarity is missing in the literature. To date, reviews have focused on the implementation of specific SDGs [ 52 – 61 ], on specific topics and collectives [ 62 – 70 ], on traditional fields of knowledge, now reconsidered in light of the SDGs [ 71 – 73 ] and on contributions from specific regions or countries [ 74 , 75 ]. By relying on scientometric techniques and data mining analyses, this paper collects and analyses the more than 5,000 papers published on the SDGs to pursue this challenging goal and fill this knowledge gap.

This article aims to provide a critical review of the scientific research on SDGs, a concept that has emerged based on multiple streams of thinking and has begun to be consolidated as of 2015. As such, global references on this topic are identified and highlighted to manage pre-existing knowledge to understand relationships among researchers and with SDG dimensions to enhance the presently dispersed understanding of this subject and its areas of further development. A scientometric meta-analysis of publications on SDGs is conducted to achieve this objective. Mainstream journals from the Web of Science (WoS) are used to identify current topics, the most involved journals, the most prolific authors, and the thematic areas around which the current academic SDG debate revolves.

Once Section 1 has revised on the related literature to accomplish the main objective, Section 2 presents the research methodology. Section 3 presents the main results obtained, and Section 4 critically discusses these results. The conclusion and the main limitations of the study are presented in Section 5.

2. Materials and methods

In methodological terms, this research applies scientometrics as a meta-analytical means to study the evolution of documented scientific knowledge on the Sustainable Development Goals [ 76 – 81 ], taking as a secondary source of information academic contributions (i.e. articles, reviews, editorials, etc.) indexed in the Web of Science (WoS). To ensure that only peer-reviewed contributions authored by individual researchers are retrieved and that such publications have a worldwide prestige assessment, all of them should be published on journals indexed in the Journal Citation Report (JCR), either as part of the Sciences Citation Index Expanded or the Social Sciences Citation Index [ 82 – 84 ].

Following the recommendations of previous studies [ 85 ], it was decided to apply the next search vector from 2015 to 2020 to achieve the research objectives TS = (Sustainable NEAR/0 Development NEAR/0 Goals), which allows the extraction of data with 67 fields for each article registered in WoS.

As the first step, to give meaning to subsequent analyses, we tested the presence of exponential growth in the production of documented knowledge that allows a continuous renewal of knowledge [ 76 , 86 ].

As a second action, given the recent nature of the subject studied, it is of interest to map the playing field [ 87 ] using VOSviewer software version 1.6.16 [ 88 ], to know which topics are most addressed in the matter of SDGs. This analysis seeks an approach, both through the concentration of Keyword Plus® [ 89 ] and by analysing the references used as input in the production of knowledge, which can be treated as cocitations, coupling-citations and cross-citations [ 90 ], using the h-index, in citation terms, as discriminant criteria in the selection of articles [ 91 – 93 ]. This methodology will allow us to establish production, impact and relationship metrics [ 80 , 85 , 87 , 94 , 95 ].

Finally, it is of interest to explore the possible concentrations that may arise. Using Lotka’s Law, we estimated the possible prolific authors and their areas of work in SDGs, and using Bradford’s Law, we conducted a search of a possible adjustment to a geometric series of the concentration zones of journals and therefore a potential nucleus where a profuse discussion on SDGs is taking place [ 96 – 100 ].

3.1. Configuration of the academic production on SDGs

The results present a total of 5,281 articles for a period of six years (2015–2020) in 1,135 journals, with over 60% of these documents published in the last two years. The total of articles is distributed among authors affiliated with 7,418 organisations from 181 countries/regions, giving thematic coverage to 183 categories of the Journal Citation Report-Web of Science (JCR-WoS). Table 1 shows the distribution among the top ten JCR-WoS categories, highlighting the prevalence of journals indexed in green and environmental sciences and, thus, in the Science Index-Expanded.

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3.2. Existence of research critical mass

Fig 1 shows the regression model for the period 2015–2020, the last year with complete records consolidated in the Web of Science. The results obtained show significant growth in the number of studies on SDGs, with an R 2 adjustment greater than 96%. The exponential nature of the model shows that a ‘critical mass’ is consolidating around the research on this topic, as proposed by the Law of Exponential Growth of Science over Time [ 76 ], which in some way gives meaning to this research and to obtaining derived results.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265409.g001

3.3. Establishment of concentrations

In accordance with Lotka’s Law, 22,336 authors were identified of the 5,281 articles under study. From this author set, 136 (≈sqrt (22,336)) are considered prolific authors with a contribution to nine or more works. However, a second restriction, even more demanding, is to identify those prolific authors who are also prolific in contemporary terms. Although SDG studies are recent, the growth production rates are extremely high. As previously shown, for the period 2015–2020, 64% of the publications are concentrated between 2019–2020. Based on this second restriction, for 3,400 articles of the 5,281 articles published in 2019 and 2020, and a total of 15,120 authors, only eight prolific authors manage to sustain a publication number that equals or exceeds nine articles. These authors are listed and characterized in Table 2 .

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The analysis shown in Table 2 highlights the University of Washington’s participation in health issues with Murray and Hay (coauthors of eight articles in the period 2019–2020), who are also important in the area of health for the prolific authors Yaya and Bhutta. The environmental SDGs mark a strong presence with Abhilash, Leal-Filho and Kalin. The affiliation of Abhilsash (Banaras Hindu University) is novel, as it is not part of the classic world core in knowledge production that is largely concentrated in the United States and Europe. It is worth noting that other prolific authors belong to nonmainstream knowledge production world areas, such as Russia or Pakistan. Professor Alola also deserves mention; not only is he the only contemporary prolific author producing in the area of economics, but he is also producing knowledge in Turkey.

In the same way, at the journal level, the potential establishment of concentration areas and determination of a deep discussion nucleus are analysed using Bradford’s law.

With a percentage error of 0.6%, between the total journal number and the total journal number estimated by the Bradford series, the database shows a core of 18 journals (2%) where one in three articles published are concentrated (see Table 3 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265409.t003

Regarding the number of contributions by journal, Sustainability has the largest number of studies on SDGs, in which 689 (13%) of the 5,281 articles studied are concentrated. The Journal of Cleaner Production, indexed to WoS categories related to Environmental SDGs, is the second most prominent journal, with 2.7% participation of the articles (147). Both journals are followed by the multidisciplinary journal Plos One, with 2.2% of the total dataset. In terms of impact factor, the 60 points of the health journal The Lancet are superlative in the whole, which in the other cases ranges between 2.000 and 7.246. As shown in Table 4 , we have developed a “Prominence ranking” by weighting article production by impact factor. This metric shows The Lancet, with only 40 articles on SDGs, as the most relevant journal, followed by Sustainability, which becomes relevant due to the high number of publications (689) despite an impact factor of 2.576. These journals are followed by the Journal of Cleaner Production with 147 articles and an impact factor of 7.246.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265409.t004

3.4. Thematic coverage

Concerning the thematic coverage, Fig 2A and 2B show a diversity of 7,003 Keyword Plus® (KWP), consistently connected to a total of 7,141 KWP assigned by Clarivate as metadata to the set of 5,281 articles studied, which presents a strong concentration in a small number of terms (red colour in the heat map generated with VOSviewer version 1.6.16).

a) Keywords Plus® heatmap and b) heat map zoom to highlight the highest concentration words, data source WoS, 2020.

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Based on this result, a concentration sphere with 85 KWP (= sqrt (7,141)) is established according to Zipf’s Law, which is presented in 50 or more articles out of the total of 5,281. Moreover, a central concentration sphere of 9 KWPs (= sqrt (85)) can be found, with keywords present in a range of 178 to 346 articles out of a total of 5,281. These nine pivotal keywords are all connected in terms of co-occurrence (associated by Clarivate two or more to the same article) and within papers with an average number of citations in WoS that vary from 9.27 to 16.69, as shown in Table 5 . The nine most prominent key words in relation to the study of the SDGs are health, climate change, management, impact, challenges, governance, systems, policy and framework. These terms already suggest some of the themes around which the debate and research in this area revolves.

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The prominence of these keywords is obtained by combining the level of occurrence and average citations (see Table 5 ): on the one hand, the occurrence or number of articles with which the KWP is associated (e.g., Management, 346) and, on the other hand, the average citations presented by the articles associated with these words (e.g., Framework. 9.27). The final score (prominence) mixes both concepts, given the product of the occurrences and the average citations of each KWP in proportion to the mean values (e.g., (330 * 16.69)/(246 * 11.96) = 1.9).

3.5. Relations within the academic contributions

The coupling-citation analysis using VOSviewer identifies the 5,281 articles under study, of which only those found in the h-index as a whole have been considered (the h-index in the database is 81, as there are 81 articles cited 81 or more times). The bibliographic coupling analysis found consistent connections in only 73 of these articles, gathered in seven clusters. Such clusters and unconnected articles are represented in Fig 3 .

Data source WoS. 2020.

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In simple terms, discrimination belonging to one cluster or another depends on the total link number that an article has with the other 80 articles based on the use of the common references. Table 6 specifies the articles belonging to the same publication cluster in relation to Fig 3 .

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Bibliographic coupling analysis can also be used to link the seven clusters that use common references with the field document title (TI), publication name (SO), Keyword Plus-KWP (ID), and research areas (SC). This allows the identification of the main topics of each cluster. As shown in Table 7 , cluster 1 (red) concerns environmental and public affairs; cluster 2 (green), health; cluster 3 (blue), economics; cluster 4 (yellow), health–the burden of disease; cluster 5 (violet), economics–Kuznets curve; cluster 6 (light blue), energy; and cluster 7 (orange), soil—land.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265409.t007

3.6. Outstanding contributions in the field

The cocitation analysis identified a total of 232,081 references cited by the 5,281 articles under study. It suggests taking as references to review those that present 44 or more occurrences in the database (232,081/5,281). This method results in 34 articles that have been used as main inputs for the scientific production under analysis, cited between 44 and 504 times. A result worth highlighting is that one in three of these documents corresponds to reports from international organisations, such as the United Nations (UN), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), World Bank Group (WB) or World Health Organization (WHO). However, it is also possible to identify 21 peer-reviewed scientific contributions. These papers are identified in detail in Table 8 .

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The cocitation analysis yields the degree of relationship of these 21 most cited research articles. It is how such references have been used simultaneously in the same article. Fig 4 displays this information (to help readers, it has also been included in Table 8 , centrality in 21 column).

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According to the relationship level in the most cited article’s selection, the graph ( Fig 3 ) has been clustered in three colours: cluster 1 in red colour groups the highest articles proportion (9) published between 2013 and 2017 in 7 journals. These journals present an impact factor (IF) quite heterogeneous, with values ranging from 2.576 (Sustainability) to 60.39 (Lancet) and indexed in one or more of the following WoS categories: Environmental Sciences (4 journals), Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (4), Environmental Studies (2), Development Studies (1), Medicine, General & Internal (1), Multidisciplinary Sciences (1) and Regional & Urban Planning (1). Three of these articles are cited 130–150 times in the 5,281-article dataset and, at the same time, show a connection centrality of 95–100% with the other 20 articles in the graph, implying a high level of cocitation. The other two clusters group six articles each. The articles of cluster 2 (green colour) are included in a widespread WoS category set: Environmental Sciences (3 journals), Geosciences, Multidisciplinary (2), Ecology (1), Economics (1), Energy & Fuels (1), Environmental Studies (1), Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (1), Materials Science, Multidisciplinary (1), Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences (1) and Multidisciplinary Sciences (1). The research of Nilsson [ 101 ] was used as a reference in 176 of the 5,281 articles under study, showing a centrality of 100%. This great connection level is also featured in another less cited article [ 17 ] published in Earth’s Future. Finally, cluster 3 (blue) highlights six articles concentrated in three highly cited journals in the WoS categories: Medicine, General & Internal (Lancet) and Multidisciplinary Sciences (Nature and Science), whose IFs range from 41.9 to 60.4. In general, they are articles less connected (cocited) to the set of 21, with centralities of 30–90%. Two of these articles were referenced 140 times or more, although one was published in 2009. Thus, cluster 3 concentrates the references mainly in journals on environmental issues with scientific-technological orientation, as well as classic and high-impact WoS journals (The Lancet, Nature and Science). It is worth noting that some of these top journals may not be listed in Table 4 as they are not included in the Bradford’s nucleus, due to their comparatively low number of contributions published.

Finally, continuing with the thematic study, a cross-citation analysis was developed. Considering only the 81 articles that are part of the h-index of the total set of 5,821 articles under study, the citations that are presented among this elite article set are explored using VosViewer. The cross-citation analysis detects existing relationships between 37 of these 81 articles. Once the directionality of the citations has been analysed, a directed temporal graph is generated using Pajek 64 version 5.09, which is presented in Fig 5 .

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Fig 5 shows how these 37 highly cited articles are related to each other (the number after the name is the publication year), considering that some of these articles are cited as references in other articles in this set. The relationships between the articles in Fig 5 are complex and should be understood under a temporal sequence logic in the citation between two articles. However, some trends can be highlighted.

On the one hand, some contributions stand out for their centrality. Lim et al. [ 102 ] is connected with eight of the 37 articles (21.6%) on citing relationships, as is Fullman et al. [ 27 ], which relates to seven of the 37 articles (18.9%). Both authors researched health issues and are also coauthors of nine articles of the dataset under study. On the other hand, according to the SDG segmentation proposed, Hajer et al. [ 19 ] and Le Blanc [ 12 ] are recognized as seminal articles in social SDGs, since they contribute to the production of other subsequent articles in the set of 37. On the other hand, in health matters, seminal articles are Norheim et al. [ 103 ] and You et al. [ 104 ], two articles published in The Lancet whose citations also contribute to the production of the set introduced as Fig 5 .

4. Discussion

The main purpose of this paper was to develop a critical and comprehensive scientometric analysis of the global academic literature on the SDGs from 2015 to 2020, conducted using the WoS database. The attained results have made it possible to comprehend and communicate to the scientific community the current state of the debate on the SDGs, thus offering insights for future lines of research.

To achieve the objectives, the present study analysed a broad spectrum of 5,281 articles published in 1,135 WoS journals. A first aspect that is striking is the great diversity of topics addressed in these studies, which reflects the multidimensionality of the SDGs. Despite this, more than half of the articles are concentrated in two JCR-WoS categories (Environmental Sciences and Green Sustainable Science Technology), a percentage that exceeds 80% if the categories Environmental Studies and Public Environmental Occupational Health are added. Thus, on the one hand, the size of the body of literature and the broad spectrum of topics more than covers the four perspectives of analysis that are relevant in research on the SDGs, according to Hajer et al. [ 19 ]: planetary boundaries, the safe and just operating space, the energetic society and, last, green competition. However, on the other hand, results also highlight a strong focus on the environmental aspects of the SDGs, which undoubtedly concentrate the most contributions.

The Sustainable Development Goals constitute an area of research that has experienced exponential scientific growth, a tendency already suggested by previous studies [ 81 , 105 ], thus complying with the fundamental principles of Price’s law [ 76 ], which suggests the need for this exponential growth to manifest a continuous renewal of knowledge on the subject under study. The results of this study highlight a significant increase in the number of articles published in the last two years, given that six out of ten articles were published in 2019 or 2020. This tendency confirms how the SDGs continue to arouse great interest in the scientific community and that the debate on the interpretation of sustainable development is still open and very present in academia.

The variety of knowledge areas from which science can approach the SDGs demonstrates the different avenues that exist to address different research questions and their multidimensional nature, as anticipated by Pradhan et al. [ 17 ], a dispersion not far from the traditional fields of knowledge or the conventional dimensions of sustainability. Investigating the reasons for this dispersion in academic research on the SDGs may be a topic of great interest, as anticipated by Burford et al. [ 47 ] and Le Blanc [ 12 ], since understanding the phenomenon of development can only be achieved if the main challenges, both current and future, can be viewed holistically and comprehensively. Along these lines, Imaz and Eizagirre [ 106 ] state that the complexity of the study of the SDGs is undoubtedly marked by their aspiration for universality, by their broad scope encompassing the three basic pillars of sustainable development (economic development, environmental sustainability and social inclusion) and by their desire for integration, motivated by the complexity of the challenges and by the countless interlinkages and interdependencies.

This natural multidimensionality of the SDGs calls for strong cooperation and collaboration between researchers, universities, and countries. In this sense, the scientometric analysis provides good news, as more than a hundred prolific authors (defined as those authors who have published nine or more articles on this topic) have been identified, although these are reduced to eight in contemporary terms (2019 or 2020). This select group of eight authors who lead research and publishing on the SDGs (sometimes with dual or triple affiliations) produce knowledge for universities and research centres both in the global north and the global south: Canada, the U.S., the UK, Germany, Pakistan, Turkey, India, Benin, Russia and Cyprus. The protagonist role played by research institutes in countries in the north has already been acknowledged by previous studies [ 81 , 105 ]. However, the emergence of top scholars producing academic knowledge from developing countries is a more recent tendency, which underscores the pertinence of this analysis.

A closer look at the academic and research curricula of these authors leads to the conclusion that the study of the SDGs does not constitute a final field of research at present. These researchers come from very heterogeneous disciplines, so their approach to the SDGs is also multidisciplinary. To illustrate it with an example, the most cited article by Professor Abhilash of Banaras Hindu University (the most published contemporary prolific author along with Christopher Murray of the University of Washington), with 363 WoS citations in February 2021 alone, is on the use and application of pesticides in India.

In more concrete terms, following Wu et al.’s [ 23 ] classification as a frame of reference, the eight most prolific contemporary authors approach the SDG research problem from two main domains, one of an environmental nature (Abhilash, Leal-Filho, Alola and Kalin) and the other related to health (Murray, Yaya, Bhutta, and Hay). The most common journals where these authors publish on environmental issues are the Journal of Cleaner Production, Higher Education, Water and Science of the Total Environment. Health researchers, on the other hand, tend to publish mainly in the journals of the BMC group, The Lancet and Nature.

This wide diversity of academic fora can be clarified with the application of Bradford’s laws, which identified a core of 18 journals that bring together the debates and academic discussions about the SDGs. It is worth noting that the 18 journals that form the core are distributed in 16 different thematic areas or WoS categories: Development Studies; Ecology; Economics; Education & Educational Research; Engineering, Environmental; Environmental Sciences; Environmental Studies; Green & Sustainable Science & Technology; Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism; International Relations; Medicine, General & Internal; Multidisciplinary Sciences; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; Regional & Urban Planning; and Water Resources. On the one hand, this wide dispersion in terms of areas of knowledge suggests that research on the SDGs can be studied from different approaches and disciplines, which opens up a wide range of possibilities for researchers from different branches of scientific knowledge, as well as an opportunity for multidisciplinary collaborations. On the other hand, this heterogeneity might also hinder the communication and dissemination of learning from one field to another. The cross-citation analysis provided in Fig 5 suggests this possibility, as seminal works are related to thematic disciplines more than to the seminal contributions identified in Table 8 .

In this sense, it is interesting to analyse the top-cited articles in the database, as they provide a clear picture of the field of knowledge. One-third of these contributions are provided by international institutions, such as the United Nations Development Program or the World Bank, which provide analyses of a normative nature. This prevalence reflects some weaknesses in the academic basis of the analysis of the SDGs as a whole from a scientific approach, an idea reinforced when the most cited papers are analysed. In fact, only six papers have reached more than 100 citations by contributions included in the database [ 4 , 12 , 24 , 29 , 101 , 107 ]. Not only were these papers largely published before the approval of the SDGs themselves, but half of them are editorial material, inviting contributions but are not evidence-based research papers. Highlighting the nature of the most cited contributions does not diminish their value but does speak to the normative approach that underlies the analysis of the SDGs when addressed not individually but as an overall field of research.

Regarding topics and themes of interest, the scientometric analysis carried out in this research identified a strong concentration around a small number of terms, as represented in a heat map ( Fig 2A and 2B ). All these topics constitute a potential source of inspiration for future research on the subject.

Through an analysis of the main keywords, it can be seen that the studies focused on the traditional areas of health and climate change. However, these keywords also provide new elements for discussion, as they uncover some other areas of study that have been highlighted by the literature. First, the appearance of the term Management as one of the main keywords reveals the importance that researchers give to the role of business in achieving the SDGs, as already suggested by Scheyvens et al. [ 49 ] and Spangenber [ 22 ]. Second, the need to address new governance processes and to seek global solutions, as suggested by authors such as Sachs [ 4 ], underscore the keywords Governance, Policy and Framework, all aspects deemed crucial for the achievement of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda [ 108 ]. Finally, other keywords such as Impact, Challenges or Systems are a clear example of the complexity and interdependencies that exist in research on the SDGs, considered an essential aspect by Griggs et al. [ 13 ] or Le Blanc [ 12 ]. The attained results highlight some of the connections between different domains of sustainable development by identifying categories and themes that are highly related in the groupings that emerge from the bibliographic coupling analysis.

In general terms, the holistic vision of development embodied by the SDGs has drawn the attention of very different disciplines, fields and areas of scientific knowledge. However, seven major areas of research have emerged: environmental and public affairs, health, economics, health-burden of disease, economics-Kuznets curve, energy and soil-land. These areas are not far removed from the current paradigm of sustainable development, where poverty or inequality are problems that are not exclusive to developing countries [ 5 , 6 ]. Thus, emerging issues that mainly affect first world countries, including urban planning, the impact of activities such as hospitality, sport or tourism, or education for development, are starting to stand out with increasing intensity, which continues to open new avenues for future research.

In short, the results of the scientometric analysis have provided a systematized overview of the research conducted in relation to the SDGs since the approval of the 2030 Agenda. Among other things, the critical analysis has identified the main trends with respect to the number of publications, the most relevant journals, the most prolific authors, institutions and countries, and the collaborative networks between authors and the research areas at the epicentre of the debate on the SDGs. As Olawumi and Chan [ 105 ] already acknowledged, the power research networks applied to the study of the SDGs offer valuable insights and in-depth understandings not only of key scholars and institutions but also about the state of research fields, emerging trends and salient topics.

Consequently, the results of this work contribute to the systematic analysis of scientific research on the SDGs, which can be of great interest for decision-making at the governmental level (e.g., which research to fund and which not to fund), at the corporate level and at the level of research centres, both public and private. Furthermore, the scientometric analysis carried out may provide clues for academics regarding future lines of research and topics of interest where the debate on the SDGs is currently situated.

5. Conclusions, limitations and future research lines

As could not be otherwise, all research in the field of social sciences has a series of limitations that must be clearly and transparently explained. The two most relevant in this study are the following.

First, although the study of the SDGs is a recent object of research, the rate of publication is growing exponentially, such that scientific knowledge is renewed practically in its entirety every two years. The only articles that escape this scientometric obsolescence are those with a high number of citations (h-index). This circumstance generates a temporal limitation in terms of the conclusions obtained in the present investigation, conclusions that should be revised periodically until the growth of publications stabilizes by adopting a logistic form, as recommended by Sun and Lin [ 109 ].

Second, the articles used as the basis for this research were restricted to those published in the JCR-WoS. This decision was made for two main reasons. On the one hand, the limitation was to eliminate potential distortions that could occur as a result of the constant growth of journals that are incorporated annually into other databases, such as ESCI-WoS (Emerging Sources Citation Index). On the other hand, it is impossible to compare impact indices if integrating other databases such as Scopus.

We are aware of these limitations, which for developing a more selective analysis imply assuming the cost of less coverage in exchange.

Regarding future lines of research, the analysis highlights how the study of the SDGs is failing to balance their economic, social and sustainability components, as it still maintains an overall focus on environmental studies.

This suggests the urgency of increasing studies on social SDGs, key topics on the 2030 Agenda including equity (SDGs 4, 5 and 10), social development (SDGs 11 and 16) and governance (SDG 17). These topics are part of the public discourse and currently a source of social pressure in many latitudes, but they are still research areas that are necessary to deepen.

Economic sustainability studies are more present, but highly concentrated, in health economics, as previously acknowledged by Meschede [ 81 ]. Academic research on the SDGs against poverty (SDG 1) and hunger (SDG 2) has not achieved such a prominent place as health. Even less so, the economics of technological development (SDGs 8 and 9), which are recognized as crucial for economic development.

Finally, the environmental SDGs do not achieve a balance among themselves either. Academic research has prioritized action for climate (SDG 13) and industrial and human consumption, mainly water (SDG 6) and energy (SDG 7). New research should be developed in the area of land (SDG 15), life under the sea (SDG 14) and sustainable production (SDG 12).

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• 9. Nations United. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. New York, NY, USA: United Nations; 2015.

THE 17 GOALS

Publications

End poverty in all its forms everywhere.

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

Reduce inequality within and among countries.

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.

Do you know all 17 SDGs?

Implementation Progress

Sdgs icons. downloads and guidelines, the 17 goals.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,  adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

The SDGs build on decades of work by countries and the UN, including the  UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

• In June 1992, at the  Earth Summit  in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, more than 178 countries adopted  Agenda 21 , a comprehensive plan of action to build a global partnership for sustainable development to improve human lives and protect the environment.
• Member States unanimously adopted the Millennium Declaration at the  Millennium Summit  in September 2000 at UN Headquarters in New York. The Summit led to the elaboration of eight  Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)  to reduce extreme poverty by 2015.
• The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development and the Plan of Implementation, adopted at the  World Summit on Sustainable Development  in South Africa in 2002, reaffirmed the global community's commitments to poverty eradication and the environment, and built on Agenda 21 and the Millennium Declaration by including more emphasis on multilateral partnerships.
• At the  United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20)  in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012, Member States adopted the outcome document  "The Future We Want"  in which they decided, inter alia, to launch a process to develop a set of SDGs to build upon the MDGs and to establish the  UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development . The Rio +20 outcome also contained other measures for implementing sustainable development, including mandates for future programmes of work in development financing, small island developing states and more.
• In 2013, the General Assembly set up a 30-member  Open Working Group  to develop a proposal on the SDGs.
• In January 2015, the General Assembly began the negotiation process on the  post-2015 development agenda . The process culminated in the subsequent adoption of the  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , with  17 SDGs  at its core, at the  UN Sustainable Development Summit  in September 2015.
• Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction  (March 2015)
• Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development  (July 2015)
• Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development  with its 17 SDGs was adopted at the  UN Sustainable Development Summit  in New York in September 2015.
• Paris Agreement on Climate Change  (December 2015)
• Now, the annual  High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development  serves as the central UN platform for the follow-up and review of the SDGs.

Today, the  Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG)  in the United Nations  Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)  provides substantive support and capacity-building for the SDGs and their related thematic issues, including  water ,  energy ,  climate ,  oceans ,  urbanization ,  transport ,  science and technology , the  Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) ,  partnerships  and  Small Island Developing States . DSDG plays a key role in the evaluation of UN systemwide implementation of the 2030 Agenda and on advocacy and outreach activities relating to the SDGs. In order to make the 2030 Agenda a reality, broad ownership of the SDGs must translate into a strong commitment by all stakeholders to implement the global goals. DSDG aims to help facilitate this engagement.

Follow DSDG on Facebook at  www.facebook.com/sustdev  and on Twitter at  @SustDev .

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Every year, the UN Secretary General presents an annual SDG Progress report, which is developed in cooperation with the UN System, and based on the global indicator framework and data produced by national statistical systems and information collected at the regional level.

Please, check below information about the SDG Progress Report:

• SDG Progress Report (2023)
• SDG Progress Report (2022)
• SDG Progress Report (2021)
• SDG Progress Report (2020)
• SDG Progress Report (2019)
• SDG Progress Report (2018)
• SDG Progress Report (2017)
• SDG Progress Report (2016)

Please, check here for information about SDG indicators and reports: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs#

Additionally, the Global Sustainable Development Report is produced once every four years to inform the quadrennial SDG review deliberations at the General Assembly. It is written by an Independent Group of Scientists appointed by the Secretary-General.

• Global Sustainable Development Report (2019)
• Global Sustainable Development Report (2023)

SDGs Icons. Downloads and guidelines.

• Download SDGs icons according to guidelines at this link .
• Please send inquiries to: United Nations Department of Global Communications

Articles on UN sustainable development goals (SDG)

Displaying 1 - 20 of 268 articles.

A sustainable future begins at ground level

Shahid Azam , University of Regina

Demography and reproductive rights are environmental issues: Insights from sub-Saharan  Africa

Céline Delacroix , L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Ghana: Kumasi city’s unplanned boom is destroying two rivers – sewage, heavy metals and chemical pollution detected

Stephen Appiah Takyi , Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Owusu Amponsah , Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)

Eight things grassroots football clubs can do to reach net zero

Mark Charlton , De Montfort University

Governments spend US$22 billion a year helping the fishing industry empty our oceans. This injustice must end

Vania Andreoli , The University of Western Australia ; Dirk Zeller , The University of Western Australia , and Jessica Meeuwig , The University of Western Australia

Sustainability schemes deployed by business most often ineffective, research reveals

Nancy E. Landrum, Ph.D.

Wasting and edema — severe forms of malnutrition — affect millions of children worldwide as food insecurity grows

Allison Daniel , University of British Columbia

Global university rankings now include social impact: African universities are off to a strong start

Annika Surmeier , University of Cape Town ; Alex Bignotti , University of Pretoria ; Bob Doherty , University of York ; David Littlewood , University of Sheffield ; Diane Holt , University of Leeds ; Phyllis Awor , Makerere University ; Ralph Hamann , University of Cape Town , and Teddy Ossei Kwakye , University of Ghana

Well behind at halftime: here’s how to get the UN Sustainable Development Goals back on track

Cameron Allen , Monash University and Shirin Malekpour , Monash University

The US committed to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, but like other countries, it’s struggling to make progress

Scott Schang , Wake Forest University and John Dernbach , Widener University

Genetically modified crops may be a solution to hunger - why there is scepticism in Africa

Ademola Adenle , Technical University of Denmark

The Murray-Darling Basin shows why the ‘social cost of water’ concept won’t work

Sarah Ann Wheeler , University of Adelaide and Claudia Ringler , International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Cities are central to our future – they have the power to make, or break, society’s advances

Ian Goldin , University of Oxford

Kenya’s population: 5 key findings in the past 20 years of research

Catherine Kyobutungi , African Population and Health Research Center

To deliver enough affordable housing and end homelessness, what must a national strategy do?

Chris Martin , UNSW Sydney

Canada needs to set its businesses up for success in the clean energy transition

Stuart Snaith , University of Victoria ; Alison Jean Parker , University of Victoria , and Douglas A. Stuart , University of Victoria

Emotional intelligence is the key to more successful entrepreneurs

Etayankara Muralidharan , MacEwan University and Saurav Pathak , William & Mary

A sustainable Australia depends on what happens in our cities – that’s why we need a national urban policy

Robert Freestone , UNSW Sydney ; Bill Randolph , UNSW Sydney , and Wendy Steele , RMIT University

Arts activities can provoke empathy and inspire youth action on urgent UN global goals

Benjamin Bolden , Queen's University, Ontario

The triple challenge facing impact investments in the developing world

Emmanuelle Dubocage , Université Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne (UPEC) and Evelyne Rousselet , Université Gustave Eiffel

Related Topics

• Climate change
• Global perspectives
• Peacebuilding
• Public health
• Sustainability
• Sustainable development
• United Nations
• UN millennium development goals

Top contributors

Chair, Monash Sustainable Development Institute & ClimateWorks Australia, Monash University

Associate Professor at the University of Pretoria and Co-ordinator of the South African SDG Hub, University of Pretoria

Research Fellow, Monash University

Professor of Business and Sustainable Development, The University of Edinburgh

Sustainable Development Solutions Network Manager, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University

Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow, RMIT University

Canada Research Chair of Epidemiology & Global Health, McGill University

Monash University

Professor of Sustainability Research, UNSW Sydney

Assistant Director (International) - Melbourne Centre for Cities, The University of Melbourne

Associate Professor in Construction and Environmental Performance, The University of Melbourne

Professor of Development Economics, Monash University

Research Fellow, Stellenbosch University

Research Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

Professor and Executive Dean: Engineering, University of Canterbury

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187 Sustainability Topics For Research Papers In 2023

If you are a student of environmental science or even technology, sustainability is a very important topic for your research papers. These topics help you study the impact of mankind on the environment and different options that are available to prevent further deterioration of the planet. There is a lot of scope for research on this subject, making it one of the most common topics for dissertation or thesis writing. Here is a list of some of the best environmental sustainability research topics that will help you get started on your research paper and project.

The topics below are practical and easy because you can find a lot of information about them. Whether you are writing an informative or argumentative paper, these topics are the perfect starting point for you.

Environmental Sustainability Research Topics

These sustainability research topics are suitable for in-depth data and analysis. They are ideal for lengthy writing assignments.

• Draw a comparison between different non-profit groups that are dedicated to improving sustainability.
• Can custom sustainable designs for classrooms improve learning?
• Is adding better natural lighting a sustainable way of saving on energy costs in large organizations?
• What are the different technological innovations that are focused on reducing environmental pollution?
• Does veganism help protect the environment?
• Are hand dryers instead of paper towels a good idea for public restrooms?
• How is pollution related to a country’s GDP?
• Why do developing nations find it difficult to start recycling programs?
• What are some political challenges that the environment faces globally?
• Is American politics affecting the environment?
• What are the benefits of choosing a vegan diet?
• Do developed countries have the responsibility of helping third-world nations become more sustainable?
• Are your current local environmental policies effective enough?
• Should high schools and colleges ban the use of plastic?
• How does food consumption affect the environment?
• Why is Sweden so different from other countries when it comes to protecting the environment?
• What are some technological advancements that help us reduce waste?
• Why have we failed to reduce food wastage across the globe?
• Is better recycling technology the solution to reducing waste in landfills?
• How are plastic straws a threat to the environment of the Earth?
• Can increased taxes items meant for single-use reduce waste from piling up in landfills?
• Why do some states succeed in banning plastic bags while others fail?
• How is overpopulation related to pollution?
• In the next fifty years, how will the population impact the environment?
• Do we have enough natural resources to support the exploding population across the globe?
• What role does the government play in improving food resources?

Easy Sustainability Topics For Research

These sustainability topics for research are commonly used by students because they are practical in terms of research and the availability of data.

• Is banning plastic a suitable solution to reduce environmental pollution?
• What are the options available to make cutlery sustainable?
• Should metros ban the use of plastic straws completely?
• Why is our ecosystem so dependent on sea life?
• Does any carbon footprint come from farm animals and how?
• Why is it the need of the hour to prevent waste from being dumped into oceans?
• How does getting fair-trade certificates to benefit university campuses?
• Why should we increase the consumption of local produce?
• How does supporting local businesses improve sustainability?
• Should food donation programs be imposed in cities?
• How has the emergence of farmers’ markets helped various communities?
• Is buffet-style dining beneficial or harmful for efforts toward sustainability?
• How can taxes be used to improve sustainability efforts?
• How can leftovers from hotels and restaurants be disposed of sustainably?
• What are the various benefits of food programs for the community?
• Explain the process of growing vegan produce and its effect on the environment
• How have sustainability efforts been affected globally as a result of the pandemic?
• Is zero-waste living ideal?
• What does sustainability mean in the 21st century?
• How is supporting local food markets sustainable?
• How does the greenhouse effect change as a result of less meat consumption?
• Does eating red meat improve the quality of the air?
• What are some benefits of switching to a plant-based diet?
• Should school cafeterias increase the options for vegan food?
• How do slaughterhouses impact the environment negatively?
• What if all restaurants switched to buffet-style meals?

Best Sustainability Topics For Research Papers

Looking for sustainability topics for research that can ensure better grades. Here is a list of some of the best topics on sustainability that you can choose from.

• Give a detailed plan for a sustainable restaurant.
• Why do large cities struggle with reducing air pollution?
• Should cities make it mandatory to reduce food waste in community gardens?
• What are some of the primary benefits of improving public transportation systems?
• Should rainwater harvesting become compulsory for large buildings?
• Has technology benefited or harmed the environment?
• Will reducing our dependence on technology help sustain the environment?
• Are smaller classrooms beneficial or harmful to the environment?
• How has the pandemic affected the environment positively?
• What is the negative impact of the pandemic on the environment?
• Can reducing the number of school days improve sustainability efforts?
• How do school campuses contribute to environmental deterioration? How can it be reduced?
• What are the best ways to teach children about non-renewable and renewable resources?
• What are some immediate changes that you can make in your life to become more sustainable?
• Create a detailed sustainability plan for your family
• Can maintaining a constant temperature at home reduce energy costs? Support your argument with data.
• Chart out a detailed zero-waste living plan that can be implemented easily.
• What is the relationship between community health and the environment?
• Case studies of the impact of pollution on the health of people.
• How do developing nations improve their access to water resources?
• Can government policies truly help the environment?
• Will creating better public spaces like riverbeds and parks improve sustainability?
• What are some measures that can be used to improve access to clean water in developing nations?
• What are some measures taken by Denmark to reduce food waste?
• Discuss Sweden’s efforts to use waste for heating and energy.
• How can we reduce pollution and improve the quality of care at the same time?

Environmental Research Topics for College Students

These sustainability topics for research papers are perfect for college students as they are most relevant and extremely interesting as well.

• What are the best ways to deal with medical waste?
• How has awareness about recycling improved sustainability efforts?
• Is global warming false as some world leaders claim?
• What are some ecological challenges that the US will face in the coming decades?
• Will green universities improve students’ mental health?
• How can growing your food help in improving sustainability?
• What are the best measures that communities can take to prevent waste
• What are the best ways to use landscaping sustainably?
• Is gardening around the house a good way of improving the quality of air amidst growing pollution rates?
• Should fireworks be banned?
• How can we raise cattle sustainably?
• How is the fashion industry impacting the environment?
• Discuss the importance of sustainable fashion in the world we live in.
• How can community gardens help cities become more sustainable?
• How can you measure the success of a smart city by the well-being of its inhabitants?
• What are smart cities? Can you provide examples?
• How can digitization be used to pursue a sustainability agenda?
• What are the various ecological dimensions of sustainability?
• Should governments provide more grants for research on sustainability?
• Discuss some sustainable measures that we can learn from our ancestors.
• What is the impact of America’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement?
• What are the Paris Climate Agreement and its important terms?
• How can changing policies from a macro level to a micro level improve sustainability efforts?
• What are the best measures taken by the UN to improve sustainability?
• Greta Thunberg: The poster child of climate change or a publicity stunt?
• The most impactful environmentalists over the last decade.

Sustainability Topics for All Levels

These sustainability research paper topics are perfect for you whether you are writing a high school paper or a college paper. They are versatile and easy to compile.

• How will our carbon footprint impact the generations to come?
• What are the different types of sustainability?
• What does sustainability education mean?
• How can your school or college improve its regulations to make the campus sustainable?
• Are there any sustainability programs that have been implemented in your school or college?
• Do solar panels on buildings help reduce energy costs?
• What are the benefits of including sustainability education in the school curriculum?
• How does non-plastic waste in the oceans impact the environment?
• How to prevent the greenhouse effect from agriculture?
• Should governments support and invest in more solar technologies?
• How can a home become energy efficient with solar energy?
• How does an improved ventilation system improve sustainability?
• What are the measures taken by modern schools and colleges in improving sustainability?
• How can modern classrooms make use of natural light for better sustainability?
• How can we save on energy by setting systems off when they are still idle.
• What are the various benefits of changing classroom timings to optimize the use of natural lighting?
• Is it possible to apply a game theory to manage challenges with sustainability?
• What is the difference between biocapacity and carbon footprint in various regions?
• What are some challenges faced by companies when it comes to conserving energy?
• Can you name some environmental groups that have been most effective in cleaning up plastic from the oceans and how they have achieved their goals?
• What are some positive effects of reducing computer screen brightness?
• Name some countries with the poorest environmental laws?
• A case study of the most sustainable nations in the world.
• The effect of plastic on the environment in detail.
• What are some effective measures of saving water?
• A study of oil spills and their effect on marine life over the last decade.

Environmental Project Topics

Have an environmental sustainability topic due? This sustainability topics list is all you need to present projects that grab the attention of your audience.

• What are some barriers and drivers of sustainability research?
• How does on-campus sustainable research help increase practical solutions for environmental sustainability?
• Provide a business case to install new lighting systems
• What are some lighting systems available today that are most sustainable?
• Needs luxury led to an unsustainable environment?
• What are the benefits of using electric cars?
• The most impactful evidence to prove that global warming is real.
• Do political agendas suppress sustainability efforts? How?
• What are some of the major threats of climate change?
• The importance of teaching children about sustainability
• What are some of the most common examples of wasteful living that you see around you?
• The relationship between undernutrition, obesity, and climate change.
• Why has ice loss across the Himalayas become rapid over the last 40 years?
• How quickly are we depleting natural resources?
• How does the medical industry contribute to global warming?
• What is the Lancet Countdown on climate change and health?
• Does climate change impact the health of newborn children?
• How has industrialization helped and harmed the environment?
• The use of heating and cooling systems and their impact on the environment.
• The harmful impact of the film industry on the environment
• Celebrities who have successfully endorsed anti-climate change campaigns
• KFC and the Amazon Rainforests: What was the chaos about?
• How has the fast-food industry impacted the environment?
• The contribution of the aviation industry toward global warming
• What is a carbon tax and how can it help improve efforts towards sustainability?
• Write about the development of waste streams over the last few decades.
• Are newspapers viable in times of sustainability?
• The importance of enhancing biodiversity to reduce environmental deterioration.
• Can improving safety regulations for cyclists contribute to sustainability?
• What are some of the most sustainable multi-national companies? Discuss their strategies.

Sustainable Development Topics

Development is a very important topic for research paper writing for students of environmental studies. Here are some sustainability topics for research related to development to help you get started.

• How has economic globalization impacted the environment?
• What is the relationship between autocracy, democracy, wars, and natural resources?
• How does a finite environmental capacity impact political and economic development?
• Changing human behavior and the use of natural resources.
• Adaptation and mitigation policies to solve environmental issues.
• The difference between the approach of a political institution and market-based requirements towards sustainability.
• How has the automobile industry taken steps towards sustainability?
• What are some effects of Green Technology on the economy?
• What is the advantage of using Green Technology in organizations?
• A detailed study of the Global Environmental Sustainability Framework to technology.
• How can digitization be used to improve awareness about sustainability?
• Is it practical to implement Green technology in developing countries? What are the best measures that can be taken?
• How can construction become sustainable?
• How can Green Thinking help improve sustainability?
• What is the perception of green energy and sustainability in multinational organizations?
• What are some sustainability policies that have helped developing nations?
• The impact of digitization on sustainability
• What are the current trends in Green Technology?
• Should builders receive incentives for constructing sustainable structures?
• Incentives for sustainability in industrial settings.
• The most effective option for disposing of electronic waste.
• How advancement in medical technology has impacted the environment
• The relationship between motorsports and the environment.
• Do large public events like concerts and sports events impact sustainability?
• The impact of styrofoam cups on the environment.
• Advancements in technology have contributed to sustainability.
• Scientists who have contributed effectively towards sustainability.

If you still need assistance with thesis writing , our experts can help you find a fast and cost-effective solution. Get in touch with us now for expert writers and top-notch papers that will surely improve your grades.

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• University of Michigan Library
• Research Guides

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• Getting Started
• Goal 1: No Poverty
• Goal 2: Zero Hunger
• Goal 3: Good Health & Well-being
• Goal 4: Quality Education
• Goal 5: Gender Equality
• Goal 6: Clean Water & Sanitation
• Goal 7: Affordable Clean Energy
• Goal 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth
• Goal 9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
• Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
• Goal 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities
• Goal 12: Responsible Consumption & Production
• Goal 13: Climate Action
• Goal 14: Life Below Water
• Goal 15: Life on Land
• Goal 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
• Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Related Library Research Guides

• Global Health Information & Resources
• Global Sexual and Reproductive Health
• Health Statistics
• Non-Governmental Organizations
• Refugees & Migrants
• United Nations

Informationist

• The Global Goals
• The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022
• The Global Goals | United Nations YouTube Channel

Highlighted Resources

• SDG Country Profiles Data visualization tool providing a snapshot of the SDG Agenda in specific countries.
• SDG Knowledge Hub From International Institute of Sustainable Development
• Sustainable Development Report SDG Measures at the country level.
• Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals 2020 From the World Development Indicators, The World Bank
• UN Library | Sustainable Development Goals Research Guides
• U.S. National Statistics for the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• ITU | ICTs for a Sustainable World #ICT4SDG
• UN Global Compact Resources to guide companies and other stakeholders to action-oriented platforms and tools to support SDGs
• The World's Largest Lesson - SDG Promotion & Education Resources

SDGs in the News (Google News feed)

• SDG360 Thinking An interactive web-based tool to help you to achieve project-based sustainability goals. From Data Science Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• COVID-19 and the SDGs How the ‘roadmap for humanity’ could be changed by a pandemic
• The Goalkeepers Report

SDG Overview Resources

• Sustainable Development Goals Knowledge Platform
• The Global Goals | United Nations
• Sustainable Development Goals | United Nations
• Sustainable Development Goals | UNDP
• Monitoring health for the SDGs | WHO
• UNICEF and the Sustainable Development Goals

Beginning with Data and Data Visualization

• SDG Global Database | United Nations Statistics Division
• Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data
• Health-related SDGs | Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation

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Sustainable Development Goals: 17 Goals to Transform our World​

• Introduction

The Sustainable Development Goals are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere.

The Goals were adopted by all United Nations Member States in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which sets out a 15-year plan to achieve the Goals and their related targets. Never before had world leaders pledged common action across such a broad and universal policy agenda.

The 17 Goals are interconnected, apply to all countries, and need to be carried out by all stakeholders – governments, the private sector, civil society, the United Nations system and others – in a collaborative partnership.

This year marks the midpoint of SDG implementation. However, on its current course, the world may miss many Sustainable Development Goals targets by 2030. For the first time in decades, development progress has stalled and even reversed under the combined weight of climate disasters, conflict, economic downturn and the lingering aftermath of COVID-19. The SDG Summit, held on 18 to 19 September 2023 at the UN Headquarters in New York is a unique opportunity for the world to pivot from crisis to development and deliver the breakthroughs needed to achieve the Goals.

This exhibit illustrates the Sustainable Development Goals through photos from around the world, bringing to life what the 17 Goals mean for people on the planet.

This exhibit was produced by the UN Department of Global Communications.

End poverty in all its forms everywhere

In 2020, the number of people living in extreme poverty  (living on less than USD 2.15 a day) rose to 724 million. Those living in extreme poverty struggle to fulfill the most basic needs (health, education, access to water and sanitation).

Recovery from the pandemic has been slow and uneven, with extreme poverty dropping from 9.3 per cent in 2020 to 8.8 per cent in 2021. The conflict in Ukraine has disrupted global trade, leading to increased living costs that are disproportionately impacting the poor. Furthermore, climate change poses substantial threats to poverty reduction. 

By the end of 2022, nowcasting suggests that 8.4 per cent of the world’s population, or as many as 670 million people, could still be living in extreme poverty.

Poverty affects developed countries as well. Right now, 30 million children are growing up poor in the world's richest countries.

Eradicating poverty in all its forms remains one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. While the number of people living in extreme poverty dropped by more than half between 1990 and 2015 – from 1.9 billion to 731 million – too many are still struggling for the most basic human needs.

A surge in action and investment to enhance economic opportunities, improve education and extend social protection to all, particularly the most excluded, is crucial to delivering on the central commitment to end poverty and leave no one behind.

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

In 2022, about 9.2 per cent of the world population was facing chronic hunger, equivalent to about 735 million people - 122 million more than in 2019. Hunger and malnutrition are barriers to sustainable development because hungry people are less productive, more prone to disease, and less able to improve their livelihoods.

To nourish today’s 735 million hungry people and the additional 2 billion people expected by 2050, a profound change of the global food and agriculture system is needed.

To achieve zero hunger by 2030, urgent coordinated action and policy solutions are imperative to address entrenched inequalities, transform food systems, invest in sustainable agricultural practices, and reduce and mitigate the impact of conflict and the pandemic on global nutrition and food security.

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Great strides have been made in improving people’s health in recent years. 146 out of 200 countries or areas have already met or are on track to meet the SDG target on under-5 mortality. Effective HIV treatment has cut global AIDS-related deaths by 52 per cent since 2010 and at least one neglected tropical disease has been eliminated in 47 countries.

However, inequalities in health care access still persist. The COVID-19 pandemic and other ongoing crises have impeded progress towards Goal 3. Childhood vaccinations have experienced the largest decline in three decades, and tuberculosis and malaria deaths have increased compared with pre-pandemic levels.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) make a bold commitment to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other communicable diseases by 2030. The aim is to achieve universal health coverage, and provide access to safe and affordable medicines and vaccines for all.

To overcome these setbacks and address long-standing health care shortcomings, increased investment in health systems is needed to support countries in their recovery and build resilience against future health threats.

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Progress towards quality education was already slower than required before the pandemic, but COVID-19 has had devastating impacts on education, causing learning losses in four out of five of the 104 countries studied.

Without additional measures, an estimated 84 million children and young people will stay out of school and approximately 300 million students will lack the basic numeracy and literacy skills necessary for success in life.

In addition to free primary and secondary schooling for all boys and girls by 2030, the aim is to provide equal access to affordable vocational training, eliminate gender and wealth disparities, and achieve universal access to quality higher education.

Education is the key that will allow many other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved. When people are able to get quality education they can break from the cycle of poverty.

Education helps to reduce inequalities and to reach gender equality. It also empowers people everywhere to live more healthy and sustainable lives. Education is also crucial to fostering tolerance between people and contributes to more peaceful societies.

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and therefore also half of its potential. But gender inequality persists everywhere and stagnates social progress.

On average, women in the labor market still earn 23 percent less than men globally. On average, women spend about three times as many hours in unpaid domestic and care work as men.

Sexual violence and exploitation, the unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work, and discrimination in public office, all remain huge barriers. All these areas of inequality have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic: there has been a surge in reports of sexual violence, women have taken on more care work due to school closures, and 70% of health and social workers globally are women.

At the current rate, it will take an estimated 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to close gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws, 140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace, and 47 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments.

Political leadership, investments and comprehensive policy reforms are needed to dismantle systemic barriers to achieving Goal 5. Gender equality is a cross-cutting objective and must be a key focus of national policies, budgets and institutions.

Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

Access to water, sanitation and hygiene is a human right. Yet billions are still faced with daily challenges accessing even the most basic of services.

Water scarcity is projected to increase with the rise of global temperatures as a result of climate change. In 2020, 2.4 billion people lived in water-stressed countries.

In 2022, 2.2 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water, including 703 million without a basic water service; 3.5 billion people lacked safely managed sanitation, including 1.5 billion without basic sanitation services; and 2 billion lacked a basic handwashing facility, including 653 million with no handwashing facility at all.

There has been positive progress. Between 2015 and 2022, the proportion of the world's population with access to safely managed drinking water increased from 69 per cent to 73 per cent.

Investments in infrastructure and sanitation facilities; protection and restoration of water-related ecosystems; and hygiene education are among the steps necessary to ensure universal access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030.

But we are still not on track to reach Goal 6 by 2030. To get back on track, key strategies include increasing sector-wide investment and capacity-building, promoting innovation and evidence-based action, enhancing cross-sectoral coordination and cooperation among all stakeholders, and adopting a more integrated and holistic approach to water management.

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

Our everyday life depends on reliable and affordable energy. And yet the consumption of energy is the dominant contributor to climate change, accounting for around 60 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions.

From 2015 to 2021, the proportion of the global population with access to electricity has increased from 87 per cent to 91 per cent. In 2021, developing countries installed a record-breaking 268 watts per capita of renewable energy-generating capacity. And yet, in 2021 there were still 675 million people around the world with no access to electricity.

Ensuring universal access to affordable electricity by 2030 means investing in clean energy sources such as solar, wind and thermal. Expanding infrastructure and upgrading technology to provide clean energy in all developing countries is a crucial goal that can both encourage growth and help the environment.

To ensure access to energy for all by 2030, we must accelerate electrification, increase investments in renewable energy, improve energy efficiency and develop enabling policies and regulatory frameworks.

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Multiple crises are placing the global economy under serious threat. Global real GDP per capita growth is forecast to slow down in 2023 and with ever increasing challenging economic conditions, more workers are turning to informal employment.

Globally, labour productivity has increased and the unemployment rate has decreased. However, more progress is needed to increase employment opportunities, especially for young people, reduce informal employment and labour market inequality (particularly in terms of the gender pay gap), promote safe and secure working environments, and improve access to financial services to ensure sustained and inclusive economic growth.

The global unemployment rate declined significantly in 2022, falling to 5.4 per cent from a peak of 6.6 per cent in 2020 as economies began recovering from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. This rate was lower than the pre-pandemic level of 5.5 per cent in 2019.

A persistent lack of decent work opportunities, insufficient investments and under-consumption contribute to the erosion of the basic social contract: that all must share in progress. The creation of quality jobs remain a major challenge for almost all economies.

Achieving Goal 8 will require a wholesale reform of the financial system to tackle rising debts, economic uncertainty and trade tensions, while promoting equitable pay and decent work for young people.

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

The manufacturing industry's recovery from COVID-19 is incomplete and uneven. Global manufacturing growth slowed down to 3.3 per cent in 2022, from 7.4 per cent in 2021.

The share of manufacturing in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) remains low, posing a serious challenge to the target of doubling industry’s share of GDP by 2030. However, medium-high and high-technology industries demonstrated robust growth rates.

As of 2022, 95 per cent of the world’s population was within reach of a mobile broadband network, but some areas remain underserved.

Investments in infrastructure – transport, irrigation, energy and information and communication technology – are crucial to achieving sustainable development and empowering communities in many countries.

To achieve Goal 9 by 2030, it is also essential to support LDCs, invest in advanced technologies, lower carbon emissions and increase mobile broadband access.

Reduce inequality within and among countries

Inequality threatens long-term social and economic development, harms poverty reduction and destroys people’s sense of fulfillment and self-worth.

The incomes of the poorest 40 per cent of the population had been growing faster than the national average in most countries. But emerging yet inconclusive evidence suggests that COVID-19 may have put a dent in this positive trend of falling within-country inequality.

The pandemic has caused the largest rise in between-country inequality in three decades.

Reducing both within- and between-country inequality requires equitable resource distribution, investing in education and skills development, implementing social protection measures, combating discrimination, supporting marginalized groups and fostering international cooperation for fair trade and financial systems.

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Half of the world’s population live in cities. This is projected to reach 70 per cent by 2050.

In the developing world, the rapid growth of cities, along with the increasing rural to urban migration, has led to a boom in mega-cities. In 1990, there were ten mega-cities with 10 million inhabitants or more. In 2014, there are 28 mega-cities, home to a total of 453 million people.

This rapid urbanization outpaces the development of housing, infrastructure and services, which led to a rise in slums or slum-like conditions.  In 2020, an estimated 1.1 billion urban residents lived in slums or slum-like conditions. Over the next 30 years, an additional 2 billion people are expected to live in such settlements.

Sustainable development cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way urban spaces are built and managed.

Making cities safe and sustainable means ensuring access to safe and affordable housing, upgrading slum settlements, investing in public transport, creating green spaces, and improving urban planning and management in a way that is both participatory and inclusive.

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

If the global population reaches 9.8 billion by 2050, the equivalent of almost three planets will be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles.

Global crises triggered a resurgence in fossil fuel subsidies, nearly doubling from 2020 to 2021.

In 2021, governments spent an estimated $732 billion on subsidies for coal, oil and gas, nearly doubling the $375 billion spent in 2020.

In 2021, although 828 million people were facing hunger, 13.2 per cent of the world's food was lost after harvest along the supply chain from farm to consumer.

The trend towards sustainability reporting is on the rise, with around 70 per cent of monitored companies publishing sustainability reports in 2021.

In 2022, 67 national governments reported to the United Nations Environment Programme on the implementation of sustainable public procurement policies and action plans, a 50 per cent increase from 2020.

Support should be provided to developing countries to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption by 2030.

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Climate change affects every country on every continent. It is caused by human activities and threatens the future of our planet. With rising greenhouse gas emissions, climate change is occurring at rates much faster than anticipated and its effects are clearly felt world-wide.

The impacts include changing weather patterns, rising sea level, and more extreme weather events. If left unchecked, climate change will undo a lot of the progress made over the past years in development. It will also provoke mass migrations that will lead to instability and wars.

Between 2010 and 2020, highly vulnerable regions, home to approximately 3.3–3.6 billion people, experienced 15 times higher human mortality rates from floods, droughts and storms compared to regions with very low vulnerability.

Sea levels continued to rise in 2022, reaching a new record since satellite measurements in 1993.

Affordable, scalable solutions are now available to enable countries to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient, and low-carbon economies.

Climate change is a global challenge that requires coordinated international cooperation.

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

Oceans cover three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, contain 97 percent of the Earth’s water, and represent 99 percent of the living space on the planet by volume.

The world’s oceans provide key natural resources including food, medicines, biofuels and other products; help with the breakdown and removal of waste and pollution; and their coastal ecosystems act as buffers to reduce damage from storms.

However, marine pollution is reaching alarming levels, with over 17 million metric tons clogging the ocean in 2021, a figure set to double or triple by 2040.

Currently, the ocean’s average pH is 8.1, about 30 per cent more acidic than in pre-industrial times. Ocean acidification threatens the survival of marine life, disrupts the food web, and undermines vital services provided by the ocean and our own food security.

Careful management of this essential global resource is a key feature of a sustainable future. This includes increasing funding for ocean science, intensifying conservation efforts, and urgently turning the tide on climate change to safeguard the planet's largest ecosystem.

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss

Terrestrial ecosystems are vital for sustaining human life, contributing to over half of global GDP and encompassing diverse cultural, spiritual, and economic values.

Global forest coverage decreased from 31.9 per cent in 2000 (4.2 billion hectares) to 31.2 per cent (4.1 billion hectares) in 2020.

In 2021, Official Development Assistance (ODA) in support of biodiversity increased by 26.2 per cent from $7.7 billion  in 2020 to $9.8 billion.

In 2022,  21 per cent of reptile species are threatened.

Between 2015 and 2019, at least 100 million hectares of healthy and productive land were degraded every year, impacting the lives of 1.3 billion people.

Halting deforestation and restoring the use of terrestrial ecosystems is necessary to reduce the loss of natural habitats and biodiversity which are part of our common heritage.

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

People everywhere should be free of fear from all forms of violence and feel safe as they go about their lives whatever their ethnicity, faith or sexual orientation.

Civilian deaths directly related to 12 of the world’s deadliest conflicts increased by 53 per cent between 2021 and 2022, marking the first rise since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in 2015.  The year 2022 witnessed a more than 50 per cent increase in conflict-related civilian deaths.

High levels of armed violence and insecurity have a destructive impact on a country’s development.

Sexual violence, crime, exploitation and torture are prevalent where there is conflict or no rule of law, and countries must take measures to protect those who are most at risk.

As of the end of 2022, 108.4 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide – an increase of 19 million compared with the end of 2021 and two and a half times the number of a decade ago.

In 2021, there were approximately 458,000 intentional homicides – the highest number in the past two decades.

Governments, civil society and communities need to work together to find lasting solutions to conflict and insecurity. Strengthening the rule of law and promoting human rights is key to this process, as is reducing the flow of illicit arms, combating corruption, and ensuring inclusive participation at all times.

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is universal and calls for action by all countries – developed and developing – to ensure no one is left behind. It requires partnerships between governments, the private sector, and civil society.

The Sustainable Development Goals can only be realized with a strong commitment to global partnership and cooperation.

The total external debt of low- and middle-income countries reached $9 trillion in 2021, recording a 5.6 per cent increase from 2020.

In 2022, global exports increased sharply by 12.3 per cent, and global trade reached a record $32 trillion.

In 2022, net ODA flows by member countries of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) reached $206 billion.

To be successful, everyone will need to mobilize both existing and additional resources, and developed countries will need to fulfill their official development assistance commitments.

Now is the time for change. A confluence of multiple global crises have upended our lives. The way we work, the way we interact, the way we move about. This can be a turning point. Let's seize the moment and change course - toward more sustainable lifestyles. Small changes in your daily life can save you money, improve your health and help cut harmful pollution.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and is grounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As such, the Agenda's Sustainable Development Goals aim not only to achieve sustainable development in its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental – but also to foster peaceful, just and inclusive societies, realizing the human rights of all.

They offer a blueprint for tackling the defining issues of our time, such as climate change, which requires urgent and transformative action that leaves no one behind.

The United Nations and its agencies, funds and programmes are working with Member States, civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders to accelerate progress toward the Goals, in a spirit of global solidarity, focused in particular on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable.

• Sustainable Development Goals
• ActNow Campaign
• 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
• Infographics

This exhibit was launched in September 2020 and updated in August 2023