This is the result of a comparative study of all 34 OECD states conducted by Germany's Bertelsmann Foundation on the basis of 34 indicators for the 17 future Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. The study is the first one in the world to systematically investigate the present status of each of these countries, both individually and in comparison with one another. This snapshot additionally identifies countries that can serve as role models with regard to particular Sustainable Development Goals, while also pointing out where substantial deficits still exist. Thus the study provides a blueprint for the attainment of the SDGs in the next 15 years.
According to the study, the countries best positioned to achieve the new UN goals are the four Scandinavian nations Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, with Switzerland following in fifth place. The nations with the lowest ranking are the USA, Greece, Chile, Hungary, Turkey, and Mexico.
Aart De Geus, Chairman of the Bertelsmann Foundation, puts it in clear terms: "Our investigation is the first stress test for the industrialized countries with respect to the new targets. We in the rich nations, with our growing social inequality and wasteful use of resources, can no longer present ourselves as the world's teachers. We're hardly entitled to prescribe a course of development to the emerging countries. Rather, the analysis shows us where we, too, have to do our homework. And it shows us where the industrialized states are already at risk of missing the new Sustainable Development Goals."
Leading countries indicate potential for improvement
The investigation further reveals major differences between the individual countries with respect to various goals. Social inequality, especially, has now reached record levels in industrialized nations and continues to rise. In 23 OECD states, the wealthiest 10 percent of the population now earns at least as much as the poorest 40 percent. The earnings of the richest 10 percent in the USA are even 1.7 times as great as those of the poorest 40 percent and in Chile they are 3.3 times as great. In countries such as Slovakia, Slovenia, Norway, the Czech Republic, and Denmark, income is considerably less concentrated, proving that inequality is not an inevitable development.
Great differences are also apparent in, for example, environmental pollution. Countries like Australia, Canada, Poland, and Mexico discharge over six times as much carbon dioxide per unit of economic output as does Sweden or Norway. The share of renewable energy also varies considerably between countries. South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands use less than 4 percent of renewable energies. By contrast, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden have already achieved a share of over 47 percent, which they are steadily expanding without hindering economic growth.
In his foreword to the study, Kofi Annan, the father of the Millennium Development Goals, calls for greater efforts on the part of the world's wealthy countries: "I am thankful to the Bertelsmann Stiftung for highlighting this issue in such elaborate detail. This study will hopefully spark reform debates on sustainability and social justice in many high-income countries. We owe it to our planet and its people."
According to Dr. Christian Kroll, who headed the Bertelsmann Foundation study, these great disparities point out the respective nations' potential for making substantial advances by 2030: "If you take the new UN Sustainable Development Goals as the standard, all countries are now developing countries. But our comparative study also shows the best examples for, and pioneers in, bringing economic, social, and ecological progress in line with each other." Kroll continues: "Given that the developing nations were able to halve the child mortality rate with the help of the Millennium Development Goals, surely we can demand that the high-income countries use the new UN goals to manage the transition toward a more sustainable economic and social model."
About the study:
On the occasion of the UN special summit in New York (September 25–27, 2015), the Bertelsmann Foundation presents the world's first comparative study of the new global Sustainable Development Goals, which, unlike the Millennium Development Goals, set standards not only for emerging and developing countries, but also for the industrialized nations. Assistance in the conception and selection of the indicators used in the study came from the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN), an association of research institutes formed to support the new UN objectives. These highly relevant indicators convey important information on significant spheres of life. They draw in part on the Bertelsmann Foundations "Sustainable Governance Indicators," a cooperative international project involving around 100 scientists on the measurement of the future viability of industrialized states.