News & Blogs

News Report: How the UK is performing against the UN Sustainable Development Goals – first official assessment

Tue 3rd July 2018 - News, Sustainable Development Goals

Urgent action is needed to prevent UK slipping behind other nations on poverty, equality and the environment.

A new report released today (3 July 2018) has highlighted why the UK should place the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the heart of its strategy. It calls on Theresa May to appoint a Cabinet-level SDG minister to spearhead the Government’s approach to meeting the UK’s SDG commitments to reduce poverty, tackle inequality and protect the natural environment. It also says UK businesses and charities must play a much greater role in realising the goals.

How the UK is performing against the UN Sustainable Development Goals

The first assessment of the UK’s performance against the UN Sustainable Development Goals

The report is the first comprehensive assessment of the UK’s performance against the SDGs and highlights a significant danger of the UK quality of life getting worse if action is not taken.

The report, Measuring Up, comes from the UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD), the network for organisations working to advance sustainable development and the delivery of the SDGs in the UK. Measuring Up is the result of a multi-stakeholder process to show the UK’s current performance against the SDGs, the opportunities and challenges ahead, and topline recommendations for achieving the SDG targets. More than 100 organisations have taken part, including LfS Scotland and its members.

Project looks at all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Number 4: Education

The project looks at each of the 17 SDGs and 169 targets, including SDG4 Education, and uses both existing public policy and published data to understand the UK’s performance. This wide-ranging and in-depth performance assessment has been developed as the UK Government has not yet produced a Voluntary National Review. It will be presented to MPs at the House of Commons on 3rd July and at the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York on 17 July 2018. The full report is available from www.ukssd.co.uk/measuringup.

UKSSSD How UK Government is performing against the UN Sustainable Development Goals image 2