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SDG barometer 2024

Louvain-La-Neuve, Mons

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched in 2015. In 2018, Antwerp Management School, the University of Antwerp and UCLouvain took the initiative to develop the first SDG Barometer to measure the adoption of the SDGs in Belgium, with the support of the Federal Institute for Sustainable Development (IFDD).
 

The results were presented on November 05, 2024 at the SDG forum 2024. 

Few key Takeaways 

  • The SDG framework provides access to a broad sustainability agenda that extends beyond ecological issues to include governance elements, fostering a universal, shared language and a sense of solidarity. 
  • SDGs play a crucial role at the early stages of sustainability journeys by raising awareness and offering an orientation point for understanding sustainability. But SDGs are not the primary reference for identifying organizations' sustainability impacts.
  • Operationalizing SDGs is challenging for many organizations, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, as the goals remain too general and insufficiently actionable.
  • Understanding and addressing the interconnections, trade-offs, and spillovers between sustainability topics is crucial for future agendas.
  • The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) are expected to eclipse the SDGs as central frameworks due to their mandatory nature and translation into national laws.
  • SDGs are seen as vulnerable to greenwashing, as some organizations selectively (cherry picking) align their sustainability commitments with the SDG agenda to fit core business activities.
  • There is a real need for a "new momentum" as organizations face SDG fatigue and risk demotivation, given the likelihood that the SDGs will not be fully realized.
  • The SDGs have guided policy development and the integration of sustainability across policy areas; however, they are underutilized in political discourse.

Policy Recommendations

The report also make seven Policy Recommendations : 

  1. Clarify the future of the SDGs beyond 2030.
  2. Encourage skills development for a dynamic sustainability landscape.
  3. Foster systems thinking to address the complexity of sustainability challenges.
  4. Identify, codify, and share best practices for broader learning.
  5. Promote the integration of SDGs in educational curricula.
  6. Highlight the importance of sustainability reporting.
  7. Support the professionalization of data collection and management.

"SDG Barometer, next to other initiatives, is an important incentive for awareness raising. We cannot fail in reaching the SDGs. It is all about leaving a decent society for our children and our grandchildren. Let me remind you of the wedding cake as a representation of the 17 SDGs: protection of the biosphere is a prerequisite for people to obtain prosperity, knowing that living in peace and in partnership is paramoun”  

Zakia Khattabi, Minister of the Climate, the Environment, Sustainable Development and Green Deal

 

For more information, please read the full report.