Strong sustainability and the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals

Non-technical summary The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are at the core of the development agenda. Despite their wide adoption, it is still unclear the extent to which they can provide insights on environmental sustainability. The paper presents an assessment of the potential of the indicators...

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Autores: Usubiaga-Liaño, A., Fairbrass, A., Ekins, P.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/73121
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/73121
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:environmental indicators
SDGs
strong sustainability
sustainability indicators
sustainable development
sustainable development goals
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spelling Strong sustainability and the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development GoalsUsubiaga-Liaño, A.Fairbrass, A.Ekins, P.environmental indicatorsSDGsstrong sustainabilitysustainability indicatorssustainable developmentsustainable development goalsNon-technical summary The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are at the core of the development agenda. Despite their wide adoption, it is still unclear the extent to which they can provide insights on environmental sustainability. The paper presents an assessment of the potential of the indicators used in the SDGs to track environmental sustainability. The results show that only a few SDG indicators describe the state of the environment, and those that do so, do not, generally, have science-based targets that describe whether environmental sustainability conditions are met. The latter aspect should be reinforced in framework that will replace the SDGs after 2030. Technical summary The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are at the core of the development agenda. Despite their wide adoption, it is still unclear whether they can be used to monitor environmental sustainability, if this is to be understood from a strong sustainability perspective. The paper presents an assessment of the adequacy of the indicator sets used by United Nations, Eurostat, OECD, and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for strong sustainability monitoring. The results show that most environmental indicators do not have science-based environmental standards that reflect whether natural capital meets environmental sustainability conditions, thereby preventing their use as strong sustainability indicators. While meeting the SDGs would likely contribute to improving environmental performance, on their own they are not adequate to monitor progress toward it. Complementary scientifically grounded metrics are needed to track the underlying state of natural capital that provides non-substitutable functions. The strong sustainability dimension within the SDGs will need to be strengthened in post-2030 sustainable development monitoring framework. Social media summary The Sustainable Development Goals are insufficient to monitor environmental sustainability. Copyright © The Author(s), 2024.A. U.-L. was supported by the María de Maeztu Excellence Unit 2023-2027 Ref. CEX2021-001201-M, funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033Cambridge University Press20252025202520252024info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10810/73121reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigacióninstname:Universidad del País VascoInglésinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MICIU/CEX2021-001201-M/https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/sus.2024.47info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/es/© The Author(s) 2024Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 3.0 Españaoai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/731212026-06-18T09:23:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Strong sustainability and the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals
title Strong sustainability and the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals
spellingShingle Strong sustainability and the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals
Usubiaga-Liaño, A.
environmental indicators
SDGs
strong sustainability
sustainability indicators
sustainable development
sustainable development goals
title_short Strong sustainability and the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals
title_full Strong sustainability and the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals
title_fullStr Strong sustainability and the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals
title_full_unstemmed Strong sustainability and the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals
title_sort Strong sustainability and the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Usubiaga-Liaño, A.
Fairbrass, A.
Ekins, P.
author Usubiaga-Liaño, A.
author_facet Usubiaga-Liaño, A.
Fairbrass, A.
Ekins, P.
author_role author
author2 Fairbrass, A.
Ekins, P.
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv environmental indicators
SDGs
strong sustainability
sustainability indicators
sustainable development
sustainable development goals
topic environmental indicators
SDGs
strong sustainability
sustainability indicators
sustainable development
sustainable development goals
description Non-technical summary The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are at the core of the development agenda. Despite their wide adoption, it is still unclear the extent to which they can provide insights on environmental sustainability. The paper presents an assessment of the potential of the indicators used in the SDGs to track environmental sustainability. The results show that only a few SDG indicators describe the state of the environment, and those that do so, do not, generally, have science-based targets that describe whether environmental sustainability conditions are met. The latter aspect should be reinforced in framework that will replace the SDGs after 2030. Technical summary The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are at the core of the development agenda. Despite their wide adoption, it is still unclear whether they can be used to monitor environmental sustainability, if this is to be understood from a strong sustainability perspective. The paper presents an assessment of the adequacy of the indicator sets used by United Nations, Eurostat, OECD, and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for strong sustainability monitoring. The results show that most environmental indicators do not have science-based environmental standards that reflect whether natural capital meets environmental sustainability conditions, thereby preventing their use as strong sustainability indicators. While meeting the SDGs would likely contribute to improving environmental performance, on their own they are not adequate to monitor progress toward it. Complementary scientifically grounded metrics are needed to track the underlying state of natural capital that provides non-substitutable functions. The strong sustainability dimension within the SDGs will need to be strengthened in post-2030 sustainable development monitoring framework. Social media summary The Sustainable Development Goals are insufficient to monitor environmental sustainability. Copyright © The Author(s), 2024.
publishDate 2024
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2024
2025
2025
2025
2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10810/73121
url http://hdl.handle.net/10810/73121
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MICIU/CEX2021-001201-M/
https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/sus.2024.47
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/es/
© The Author(s) 2024
Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 3.0 España
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/es/
© The Author(s) 2024
Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 3.0 España
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
instname:Universidad del País Vasco
instname_str Universidad del País Vasco
reponame_str Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
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