Ambitiousness of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets: classification and implications for policy making

Mustajoki, Jyri; Borchardt, Steve; Büttner, Leonie; Köhler, Berit; Lepenies, Robert; Lyytimäki, Jari; Mille, Raoul; Pedersen, Anders Branth; Reis, Stefan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2428-8320; Richard, Didier. 2022 Ambitiousness of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets: classification and implications for policy making. Discover Sustainability, 3 (1), 36. 20, pp. 10.1007/s43621-022-00104-8

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s43621-022-00104-8

Abstract/Summary

We analyse how ambitiously the underlying targets for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations Agenda 2030 are set in terms of their semantic formulation and discuss the implications of this for policy making. Our analysis is based on classifying ambitiousness into three types: semantic, relative and absolute ambitiousness; in this paper, we mainly analyse semantic ambitiousness. We establish an evaluation framework that shows clear differences in semantic ambitiousness levels between SDG targets. Awareness of these differences is essential, as semantic ambitiousness also lays the foundation for evaluating other types of ambitiousness of the SDGs in international cross-country comparisons and national policy making processes. We also analyse how progress towards the targets has been reported in the Sustainable Development Report of the SDG Index and in the SDGs Progress Chart of the United Nations. Finally, we discuss possible reasons for the differences in the level of ambitiousness and provide recommendations for operationalising the targets. Our aim is to provide a better understanding of the variability of interpretations that can occur in the evaluation of different SDGs, and to improve the coherence between the goals in developing any future development goal frameworks beyond Agenda 2030.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1007/s43621-022-00104-8
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Atmospheric Chemistry and Effects (Science Area 2017-)
ISSN:	2662-9984
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.
Additional Keywords:	Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2030, ambitiousness, classification, cross-country comparisons
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment Health
Date made live:	01 Nov 2022 14:43 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/533444

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1007/s43621-022-00104-8

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Atmospheric Chemistry and Effects (Science Area 2017-)

ISSN:

2662-9984

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.

Additional Keywords:

Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2030, ambitiousness, classification, cross-country comparisons