The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a global plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. With its 17 SDGsSustainable Development Goals, it seeks inclusive and universal progress along the three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. This demands a new level of cooperation among all actors in the national and international spheres.

SDGSustainable Development Goal Pulse approaches the Goals from the point of view of data and statistics. To fully implement and monitor progress on the SDGs, decision makers need accurate, timely, relevant and accessible statistics. Although data availability and quality are constantly improving, there is still a need to strengthen statistical capacity, enhance data literacy at all levels of decision-making, and find innovative approaches to monitor sustainable development (United Nations, 2017).

As UNCTAD prepares for its 16th session of the Conference in 2025, it leverages its decades-long experience in trade and development to support countries through various programs aimed at advancing the SDGs. We also develop and implement methodologies to measure several SDG indicators, including those for which UNCTAD is the custodian. In this report, the goals and indicators selected reflect UNCTAD’s broad mandate on the interrelated issues of trade, investment, finance, technology and sustainable development.

Goal 1: No poverty

Indicator 1.5.1: Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population.
Indicator 1.5.2: Direct economic loss attributed to disasters in relation to global gross domestic product (GDP).

Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Indicator 9.1.2: Passenger and freight volumes, by mode of transport.
Indicator 9.2.1: Manufacturing value added as a proportion of GDP and per capita.
Indicator 9.2.2: Manufacturing employment as a proportion of total employment.
Indicator 9.4.1: CO2 emission per unit of value added.
Indicator 9.5.1: Research and development expenditure as a proportion of GDP.
Indicator 9.c.1: Proportion of population covered by a mobile network, by technology.

Goal 10: Reduced inequalities

Indicator 10.a.1: Proportion of tariff lines applied to imports from LDCs and developing countries with zero-tariff.

Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production

Indicator 12.6.1: Number of companies publishing sustainability reports.

Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions

Indicator 16.4.1: Total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows (in current United States dollars).

Goal 17: Partnership for the goals

Indicator 17.2.1 Net official development assistance, total and to least developed countries.
Indicator 17.3.1 Additional financial resources mobilized for developing countries from multiple sources.
Indicator 17.4.1: Debt service as a proportion of exports of goods and services.
Indicator 17.5.1: Implement investment promotion regimes for LDCs.
Indicator 17.10.1: Worldwide weighted tariff-average.
Indicator 17.11.1: Developing countries’ and least developed countries’ share of global exports.
Indicator 17.12.1: Tariffs faced by developing countries, LDCs and SIDS.

References

• UNCTAD (2016). Development and globalization: Facts and figures 2016. Available at https://stats.unctad.org/Dgff2016/ (accessed 19 April 2019).
• United Nations (2017). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2017. United Nations publication. Sales No. E.17.I.7. New York.