Leal Filho Walter, Vidal Diogo Guedes, Chen Chen, Petrova Maria, Dinis Maria Alzira Pimenta, Yang Peter, Rogers Steven, Álvarez-Castañón Lorena, Djekic Ilija, Sharifi Ayyoob, Neiva Samara
European School of Sustainability Science and Research, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany.
Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, Manchester, M1 5GD UK.
Environ Sci Eur. 2022;34(1):58. doi: 10.1186/s12302-022-00629-9. Epub 2022 Jul 1.
The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires much planning and the provision of resources, especially regarding the necessary investments, technologies and infrastructures needed. Yet, it is presently unclear how available these elements are, what gaps exist, what changes have taken place in terms of their availability since the adoption of the SDGs and what their requirements will be in the future. The knowledge gap has become even more concerning because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a bibliometric analysis, an assessment of the global progress of SDG implementation and requirements, identifying challenges through the development of a matrix, and a set of 11 case studies to triangulate the holistic analysis, an assessment of the global progress of the SDGs implementation and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this process was carried out.
The findings suggest that the scope and width of resources limitation are currently undermining the implementation of the SDGs. Apart from the fact that the pace of progress has been insufficient, the potential of the SDGs in pursuing sustainability and improving life quality is not fully realised. This trend suggests that a substantial acceleration of the efforts is needed, especially for the five SDGs whose progress since 2015 has not been optimal, namely SDG2, SDG11, SDG13, SDG15, and SDG16, while SDG3, SDG7, SDG9, SDG14, and SDG17 show signs of progress. The case studies showed that different industries have dissimilar effects on achieving the SDGs, with the food sector correlating with 15 SDGs, as opposed to the energy sector correlating with 6 SDGs. Accordingly, the priority level assessment in terms of achieving the SDGs, points to the need to further advance the above-mentioned five SDGs, i.e., 2, 11, 13, 15 and 16.
This study fills in a knowledge gap in respect of the current need for and availability of investments, new technologies, and infrastructures to allow countries to pursue the SDGs. It is suggested that this availability is rather limited in specific contexts. In respect of the needs to be addressed, these include resource-related constraints, limited technologies and infrastructures, affecting SDG2, SDG11, SDG13, SDG15, and SDG16, whose progress needs to be enhanced. Since the global progress in the process of implementation of the SDGs depends directly and indirectly on addressing the resource gaps, it is suggested that this topic be further investigated, so that the present imbalances in the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental, be adequately addressed.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12302-022-00629-9.
可持续发展目标（SDGs）的实施需要大量规划并提供资源，特别是所需的必要投资、技术和基础设施。然而，目前尚不清楚这些要素的可得性如何、存在哪些差距、自可持续发展目标通过以来其可得性发生了哪些变化以及未来的需求是什么。由于新冠疫情的影响，这一知识差距变得更加令人担忧。通过文献计量分析、对可持续发展目标实施的全球进展及需求进行评估、通过构建矩阵识别挑战以及开展11个案例研究以对整体分析进行三角验证，对可持续发展目标实施的全球进展以及新冠疫情对这一进程的影响进行了评估。
研究结果表明，资源限制的范围和广度目前正在破坏可持续发展目标的实施。除了进展速度不够这一事实外，可持续发展目标在追求可持续性和改善生活质量方面的潜力尚未得到充分实现。这一趋势表明需要大幅加快努力，特别是对于自2015年以来进展不理想的五个可持续发展目标，即目标2、目标11、目标13、目标15和目标16，而目标3、目标7、目标9、目标14和目标17显示出进展迹象。案例研究表明，不同行业对实现可持续发展目标有不同影响，食品行业与15个可持续发展目标相关，而能源行业与6个可持续发展目标相关。因此，在实现可持续发展目标方面的优先级评估表明，需要进一步推进上述五个可持续发展目标，即目标2、目标11、目标13、目标15和目标16。
本研究填补了关于各国实现可持续发展目标所需的投资、新技术和基础设施的当前需求及可得性方面的知识空白。研究表明，在特定背景下，这种可得性相当有限。在需要解决的需求方面，包括与资源相关的限制、有限的技术和基础设施，这些影响了目标2、目标11、目标13、目标15和目标16，其进展需要加强。由于可持续发展目标实施过程中的全球进展直接和间接地取决于解决资源差距，建议进一步研究这一主题，以便充分解决可持续发展三个维度（经济、社会和环境）目前的不平衡问题。
在线版本包含可在10.1186/s12302 - 022 - 00629 - 9获取的补充材料。
