|

Measuring Up – how the UK is performing on the SDGs | Report

UKSSD publishing first comprehensive assessment of the UK’s performance against the SDGs. With support from CUSP on SDG 17, highlighting a significant danger of the UK quality of life getting worse if action is not taken.
July 2018

The report, Measuring Up, was initiated by UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD), the network for organisations working to advance sustainable development and the delivery of the SDGs in the UK. It is the result of a multi-stakeholder process to show the UK’s current performance against the SDGs, the opportunities and challenges ahead, and top-line recommendations for achieving the SDG targets. More than 100 organisations have taken part, including businesses, charities, academia, trade unions, professional associations and government agencies.

With Victor Anderson leading our research, CUSP headed the work on Goal 17, a set of targets to help strengthen the means of SDG implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development. Victor said: “In some countries the SDGs are seen as a matter of urgency. In the UK there is a tendency to see them as simply being about how to spend some of the overseas aid budget. In fact many of the Goals are challenging for the UK in our own ways of running things here, in economic policy particularly. I am delighted that CUSP was invited to help with this work, which is about this country playing its full part in a global move towards sustainable prosperity.

The report looks at each of the 17 SDGs and 169 targets, and uses both existing public policy and published data to understand the UK’s performance. It suggests that the UK is performing well on only 24 per cent of its targets and that poverty and inequality continue to deepen, with the number of people in insecure work (zero hours, agency employment, low-paid self-employment) having risen to 3 million.

Download

The full report is available for download in pdf. For more information on the work of the UKSSD and the background research accompanying each of the chapters, please visit the UKSSD website.

Why do SDGs matter?

Join the conversation on Twitter with the Hashtag #MeasuringUp.

FURTHER READING

Partnerships are central to the achievement of all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but partners need to be proactive and willing. Summarising our recent contribution to the first comprehensive assessment of the UK’s performance against the SDGs, Victor Anderson explains why the UK’s progress has so far been limited as a result.
Partnerships are central to the achievement of all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but partners need to be proactive and willing. Summarising our recent contribution to the first comprehensive assessment of the UK’s performance against the SDGs, Victor Anderson explains why the UK’s progress has so far been limited as a result.
Politics & Enterprise
July 17, 2018
In July 2016, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has launched an inquiry into domestic implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to which the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity responded.
In July 2016, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has launched an inquiry into domestic implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to which the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity responded.
Politics & Enterprise
October 13, 2016
The use of quantified indicators for the implementation and measurement of social progress is a well-established policy tool. However, any form of ‘social progress’ is inherently contested and a meaningful application of indicators in such contexts poses numerous challenges. In this paper we explore how indicators might be used to research and implement sustainable prosperity.
The use of quantified indicators for the implementation and measurement of social progress is a well-established policy tool. However, any form of ‘social progress’ is inherently contested and a meaningful application of indicators in such contexts poses numerous challenges. In this paper we explore how indicators might be used to research and implement sustainable prosperity.
Politics & Enterprise
System Dynamics
October 25, 2016