Progress on 'majority' of UN SDGs stalled over past 12 months: M&G's fourth annual report

M&G’s fourth SDG Reckoning Report reveals that only No Poverty (SDG 1) and Climate Action (SDG 13) have improved their scores.

The majority of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have stalled over the past 12 months, with only incremental improvements in two of the 17 goals.

London-headquartered M&G Investments says in a new report that the 2030 target deadline for the SDGs is not on track to be met.

“Insufficient action to decarbonise global energy, declining circularity and deteriorating global prospects of peace are the main factors stifling progress,” says the unit of London-listed M&G plc on Dec 11.

Created in 2015 by the UN General Assembly, the SDGs are designed to serve as a “shared blueprint” for peace and prosperity, for people and the planet.

M&G’s fourth SDG Reckoning Report reveals that only No Poverty (SDG 1) and Climate Action (SDG 13) have improved their scores. This was due to the reduction in people living in extreme poverty and the OECD’s estimate that the UN’s US$100 billion ($134.30 billion) annual climate finance target was finally met in 2022.

Meanwhile, progress for Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12) and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG 16) have backtracked. The remaining SDGs have all stalled over the past year.

Lead author of the report, Ben Constable-Maxwell, head of impact investing at M&G Investments, says the fourth annual report “again finds” that the world’s ambition to deliver the UN’s Sustainable Development agenda is not being matched by appropriate actions.

“Despite pockets of progress, achieving the 2030 targets will require ambitious and concerted action from all stakeholders. We are halfway towards the deadline and with COP28 underway, now is the time to get back on track with strong and decisive action to tackle the world’s major sustainability and development challenges,” says Constable-Maxwell, who has been with M&G since 2003.

The UN’s own annual SDG Progress Report, which covers all 169 of the SDG targets, paints a similar picture, he adds, highlighting that progress on more than 50% of the SDG’s targets is “weak and insufficient” and on 30% it has “stalled or gone into reverse”.

Investors have a significant role to play in driving capital towards achieving the Goals and in holding businesses to account, says Constable-Maxwell. This year’s report focuses on three SDG-related topics where investors have the opportunity to drive positive change.

First, M&G highlights tackling waste and shifting to a circular economy. “Currently, only 7% of materials across the globe are reused or recycled, while 93% of resources are wasted, lost or unavailable for reuse. The need to shift away from the ‘take-make-waste’ to a ‘reduce-reuse-recycle’ model is critical.”

Second, M&G spotlights climate change and nature loss. “These two interconnecting ‘planetary crises’ threaten human well-being, the stability of the global economy and the sustainable functioning of the planet. Evidence is mounting that tackling one without the other risks failing to achieve the necessary outcomes for both.”

Third, M&G urges all to challenge gender inequality. “While there has been some progress, we are on track to achieve only 15% of indicators for Gender Equality (SDG 5) by 2030. At the current rate of advancement, closing the global gender gap is projected to take a further 131 years.”

M&G plc was formed in 2017 through the merger of Prudential’s UK and Europe savings and insurance operation and M&G, its wholly owned international investment manager.

M&G listed as an independent company on the London Stock Exchange in October 2019 and has EUR387.8 billion of assets under management as of June 30. M&G has over five million customers in the UK, Europe, the Americas and Asia, including individual savers and investors, life insurance policy holders and pension scheme members.

Photo and infographic: M&G Investments

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