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Black and white photo of Thomas Hickmann. Photo.

Thomas Hickmann

Associate professor | Senior lecturer | Recognised Teaching Practitioner

Black and white photo of Thomas Hickmann. Photo.

Scientific Evidence on the Political Impact of the Sustainable Development Goals

Author

  • Frank Biermann
  • Thomas Hickmann
  • Carole Anne Sénit
  • Marianne Beisheim
  • Steven Bernstein
  • Pamela Chasek
  • Leonie Grob
  • Rakhyun E. Kim
  • Louis J. Kotzé
  • Måns Nilsson
  • Andrea Ordóñez Llanos
  • Chukwumerije Okereke
  • Prajal Pradhan
  • Rob Raven
  • Yixian Sun
  • Marjanneke J. Vijge
  • Detlef van Vuuren
  • Birka Wicke
Show all

Summary, in English

In 2015, the United Nations agreed on 17 Sustainable Development Goals as the central normative framework for sustainable development worldwide. The effectiveness of governing by such broad global goals, however, remains uncertain, and we lack comprehensive meta-studies that assess the political impact of the goals across countries and globally. We present here condensed evidence from an analysis of over 3,000 scientific studies on the Sustainable Development Goals published between 2016 and April 2021. Our findings suggests that the goals have had some political impact on institutions and policies, from local to global governance. This impact has been largely discursive, affecting the way actors understand and communicate about sustainable development. More profound normative and institutional impact, from legislative action to changing resource allocation, remains rare. We conclude that the scientific evidence suggests only limited transformative political impact of the Sustainable Development Goals thus far.

Department/s

  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Department of Political Science

Publishing year

2022

Language

English

Pages

795-800

Publication/Series

Nature Sustainability

Volume

5

Issue

9

Document type

Article

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Topic

  • Political Science
  • Other Social Sciences

Keywords

  • SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals
  • SDG 1 - No Poverty
  • SDG 2 - Zero Hunger
  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality
  • SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation
  • SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
  • SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action
  • SDG 14 - Life Below Water
  • SDG 15 - Life on Land
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2398-9629