College of Public Administration, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China.
PLoS One. 2024 Nov 4;19(11):e0310089. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310089. eCollection 2024.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 represent the current perceptions of humans regarding understanding and monitoring development. Achieving all 17 goals simultaneously is unrealistic. Considering the interconnected nature of SDGs, identifying their critical dimensions, goals, indicators, and mutual relationships is necessary. In addition, with increasing reservations about the sustainability of SDGs, it is crucial to explore consistency across different dimensions to ensure policy coherence in maximizing synergies and minimizing trade-offs. Our study employed multiple factor analysis (MFA) and hierarchical clustering on principal components (HCPC) to investigate these issues and analyze the results based on the public value (PV) theory. The results indicated that the Human Development Index (HDI) and gross domestic product per capita (GDPP) constitute the first principal component (PC) and are determinants in differentiating country clusters. However, they contradict environmental indicators such as CO2 emissions per capita and ecological footprint gha per person (EFP) and have low synergy with the Happy Planet Index (HPI). Additionally, the relationships between income level, inequality, and environmental quality correspond to a combined Kuznets curve and an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). Moreover, governance capacity has become increasingly crucial in sustainable development, particularly in the capability to prioritize different PVs in a timely and strategic manner. Finally, despite the novelty of EFP and HPI, they cannot reveal the entire development story. SDGs require embracing more such indicators to enrich the value bases of development and achieve a sustainable future.
联合国于 2015 年通过的可持续发展目标 (SDGs) 代表了人类目前对发展的理解和监测的认识。同时实现 17 个目标是不现实的。考虑到 SDGs 的相互关联性质，有必要确定其关键维度、目标、指标和相互关系。此外，由于对 SDGs 的可持续性的疑虑越来越多，因此必须探索不同维度之间的一致性，以确保政策的一致性，最大限度地发挥协同作用，最小化权衡。我们的研究采用多元因子分析 (MFA) 和主成分层次聚类 (HCPC) 来研究这些问题，并根据公共价值 (PV) 理论分析结果。结果表明，人类发展指数 (HDI) 和人均国内生产总值 (GDPP) 构成了第一个主成分 (PC)，是区分国家群的决定因素。然而，它们与人均二氧化碳排放量和人均生态足迹 (EFP) 等环境指标相矛盾，与幸福星球指数 (HPI) 的协同作用较低。此外，收入水平、不平等和环境质量之间的关系对应于综合库兹涅茨曲线和环境库兹涅茨曲线 (EKC)。此外，治理能力在可持续发展中变得越来越重要，特别是在及时和战略性地优先考虑不同 PV 的能力方面。最后，尽管 EFP 和 HPI 具有新颖性，但它们无法揭示整个发展故事。SDGs 需要纳入更多此类指标，以丰富发展的价值基础，实现可持续的未来。
