The Transforming Australia platform has released an update on progress towards the SDGs, measuring the country’s performance against 56 indicators linked to the SDGs. 

In 2018, Australia launched an online SDGs platform to track national progress towards the 2030 Agenda. The platform was developed by the National Sustainable Development Council, a body of experts from Australia’s government, businesses, research community, and civil society.

The Australian Government has not set an implementation agenda, including targets, for achieving the SDGs.

The 2020 report, produced by the Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI), applies updated indicators, aiming to better understand how COVID-19 is affecting Australia’s ability to meet SDG targets.” The authors find Australia is on track to meet only 12 targets by 2030 – one in five of those assessed. Of the rest, ten need improvement, 11 require a breakthrough, and 23 are off track.

The report notes that the Australian Government has not set an implementation agenda, including targets, for achieving the SDGs. Cameron Allen, MSDI and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), notes that targets “set national priorities and level of ambition, provide investment clarity and certainty, and encourage a shift from short- to long-term thinking.” Without them, Australia is hampered in effectively planning for his future, Allen explains.

While performing well in the areas of education and health, the report finds that the country is “failing to reduce CO2 emissions, waste and environmental degradation,” as well as economic pressures and inequality. On specific effects of the pandemic, the report indicates that:

• It has exacerbated trends that were already emerging, such as rising unemployment, poverty, and psychological distress;
• It has closed off the country’s traditional sources of growth, including trade, foreign investment, and skilled migration, meaning Australia will have “generate our own new drivers of economic dynamism”;
• It has seen rising trust levels in society and trust in the federal government; and
• It threatens to create pressure to reduce environmental safeguards and climate action if the country takes a sole focus on economic recovery.

Among other findings on the analysis of SDG indicators for Australia, the report notes that:

• Wealth inequality has increased significantly;
• Women are more likely to lose their jobs and experience psychological distress related to the pandemic, and domestic violence has increased;
• Australians are living longer but are more obese and, since the pandemic, drinking more alcohol;
• The prison population has increased by 32% since 2006;
• Indigenous life expectancy remains well below the national average, and Indigenous Australians make up more than 27% of the prison population, while being just over 3% of the Australian population;
• Australia’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have declined only marginally since 2000 and little progress has been made since 2013. Australia is far off track to meet a 2030 emissions target that is consistent with the Paris Agreement to keep global warming to well below 2 degrees;
• Australia’s per capita material footprint is one of the highest in the world – more than 70% above the OECD average – and rising; and 
• Hard coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef has declined, and the trend for threatened species has worsened since 2000.

In two areas of positive progress, total forest area has increased steadily since 2008 after a period of decline. Five million more hectares of plantings are needed by 2030 to reach climate targets. And the share of ASX200 companies that submit adequate sustainability reports has increased substantially since 2008.

The report was launched by Nicole Bradford of the Australian superannuation fund Cbus Super, who said the SDGs are an “increasingly important framework for large investors” as they consider the society into which their members will retire.

The Transforming Australia website includes data dashboards, interactive charts, and explanatory videos in addition to the 2020 report. [Transforming Australia] [Monash University press release] [Publication: Transforming Australia SDG Progress Report: 2020 Update ]