2025 European Sustainable Development Report
The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) releases the 2025 European Sustainable Development Report, which aims to summarize Europe’s progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Since 2019, the European Commission Joint Research Centre uses the methodology of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Index (SDG Index) to measure sustainable development data and indicators in European countries.
Related Post: The United Nations Releases 2024 Sustainable Development Goals Index Report
2025 European Sustainable Development
This report analyzes the sustainable development situation of 41 European countries, and 19 of the top 20 countries in the Global Sustainable Development Goals Index are European countries. The average score of the EU Sustainable Development Index is 72.8, with Finland ranking first in the index for five consecutive years with a score of 81.1. Denmark, Sweden, Austria, and Norway are ranked second to fifth respectively, reflecting the generally leading progress of Nordic countries in sustainable development.
From 2015 to 2023, the Sustainable Development Goals index increases in all countries, with countries with lower index scores showing faster growth rates. The average score in Europe increased by 1.9 points from 2016 to 2019, but this growth rate decreased to 0.8 points from 2020 to 2023. The Nordic countries score relatively high, while other regions score relatively low. It is expected that Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe will need 19, 23, and 27 years of development to reach the sustainable development score of Northern Europe.
The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda has incorporated the principle of leaving no one behind, which focuses on addressing equality among countries. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 10 (Reduce inequalities) and Sustainable Development Goals 17 (Partnerships for the goals) are also relevant to this principle. The equality index in Europe is the highest in the world, with Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, and Sweden ranking in the top five.
Recommendations from United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network
The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network believes that Europe needs to achieve the following sustainable development tasks between 2024 and 2029:
- Jointly expand investment in clean energy and digital technology and provide a foundation for future investment strategies based on the fiscal framework from 2028 to 2035.
- Address difficulties such as inflation and budget pressures and improve the overall sustainability score of Europe.
- Avoid the negative impact of unsustainable consumption on the environment and health, and transit towards healthier and more sustainable consumption.
- Utilize sustainable development goals to improve the global financial architecture and provide sufficient financial support for sustainable development.
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