The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) published its Sustainable Development Report 2022 in June. Established in 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General, SDSN is a network that brings together global scientific and technological expertise to propose practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.
 
The report includes SDG indicators and dashboards for tracking progress toward achieving the SDGs. Last year, for the first time since the 2015 SDG agreement, progress toward achieving the SDGs was reversed and regressed. This year, no progress was made and the SDG indicators declined further for the second consecutive year. This is due not only to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to multiple international crises related to health, climate, biodiversity, geopolitics, military and other issues that have arisen simultaneously.
 
The SDG agenda is now exactly at the halfway point between 2015 and 2030. In September 2023, UN member states will meet for the second time since the adoption of the SDGs to define priorities for achieving the SDGs. Restoring progress on the SDGs will require international cooperation to end pandemics and wars and secure funding to achieve the SDGs.
 
Countries are ranked by their overall score, which measures total progress towards achieving all 17 SDGs. Finland (ranked 1st last year) tops the overall score by country, followed by Denmark (3rd last year), Sweden (2nd last year), and other Scandinavian countries. The top 10 countries are dominated by European countries. East and South Asia are the fastest growing regions, with Bangladesh and Cambodia seeing the largest score increases from 2015, while Venezuela saw the largest score decrease.
 
Japan ranks 19th out of 163 countries, down further from 15th in 2019, 17th in 2020, and 18th in 2021. In particular, significant challenges remain for SDGs 5 (Gender equality), 12 (Responsible production and consumption), 13 (Climate action), 14 (Life below water), 15 (Life on land), and 17 (Partnerships for the goals).

Reference
SDSN. Sustainable Development Report 2022. 
https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/  Accessed on June 3, 2022.

Contributor: SHIRATORI Sakiko (Information and Public Relations Office)