The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) published the 2021 edition of the Europe Sustainable Development Report. The latest report includes EU accession countries for the first time, as well as a chapter on the European Green Deal. Published on 14 December 2021, this third edition of SDSN’s SDG Index for Europe shows that EU countries’ consumption of goods and services generates significant environmental and social impacts at the international level. In order to achieve the SDGs, these impacts must be addressed.

Europe is the global SDG leader, but outsources its economic, social, and environmental impacts abroad.

Other key findings of the report include:

• Europe needs to accelerate progress on many goals, as the current pace is too slow to achieve the SDGs by 2030 and the Paris Climate Agreement by 2050. Candidate countries perform well below the EU average, although they were making progress before the pandemic hit.
• Europe’s greatest SDG challenges are found in the areas of sustainable diets and agriculture, climate and biodiversity (SDGs 2, 12, 13, 14, and 15), and in reducing inequalities in living standards (referred to as “convergence” in Europe).
• The report notes that the EU’s ‘Farm-to-Fork’ strategy, the first holistic strategy of the food system, sets high goals for improving the sustainability of EU food and land systems. However, it is missing clear quantitative targets to track processing from activities related to processing and consumption.
• Europe is the SDG leader globally, but it generates negative international spillovers. In other words, it “outsources economic, social and environmental impacts abroad,” notably through trade. The EU must address these to ensure international legitimacy, the authors stress.
• With the adoption of the European Green Deal in 2019 and related legislation, Europe was the first continent to commit to climate-neutrality by mid-century. However, the authors note that it only addresses 12 SDGs directly, and leaves out many of the social dimensions of the 2030 Agenda. Eurostat’s annual SDG report tracks progress towards quantified targets for only 15 of the 102 indicators (which primarily cover climate change, energy consumption and education). The EU needs to develop an integrated and comprehensive approach to implementing the SDGs and must communicate clearly on them.

The report proposes priority actions to accelerate the SDGs in the EU and internationally, including to prepare a Communication issued by the European Commission providing targets, timelines, and roadmaps showing how the EU aims to achieve the SDGs. This could become a regularly updated document.

Other priority actions include: setting up a mechanism for structured engagement with civil society and scientists on SDG policies and monitoring, either by renewing the mandate of the Multi-Stakeholder Platform or setting up a new mechanism; and preparing an EU-wide Voluntary National Review ahead of the UN’s SDG Summit in September 2023.

The report was co-written with civil society, including research centers and universities within the SDSN network in Europe, and in partnership with the European Commission’s (EC) Economic and Social Committee [SDSN press release]