The world is “seriously off track” when it comes to fulfilling the sustainable development goals (SDGs) which UN member states agreed back in 2015 to reach by 2030, according to the 2023 Sustainable Development Report (pdf). After making headway between 2015 and 2019, progress towards reaching these goals has been interrupted by concurrent crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the continued Russia-Ukraine war, and other geopolitical tensions, the report says. Now, only 12% of SDG goals are progressing and 30% have globally remained unchanged or regressed from 2015, the United Nations Secretary-General reports.

The good news: Egypt is doing better than in past years: Egypt rose six spots in the report’s SDG index — which measures countries’ progress in meeting their SDG targets — to rank 87th globally out of 166 countries assessed by the report. Egypt’s ranking, with a score of 69.6, puts us above Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Qatar, but below Jordan, the UAE, Turkey, and Morocco. Broadly speaking, our performance compared to the rest of our regional peers remains stable compared to last year.

Where we’re doing well: Egypt is “on track” in three SDG categories — offering quality education, improving access to clean water and sanitation, and encouraging responsible consumption and production. The first two of these categories have “significant challenges remaining” for the 2030 goal to be met, according to the index, while encouraging responsible consumption and production faces some challenges. We’re making some headway on other SDG categories, including those relating to climate action, gender equality, providing sustainable cities and homes, and economic growth.

Where we’re stalling: The report says Egypt is stagnating in areas such as reaching zero hunger, protecting marine life, protecting land animals, and achieving peace, justice, and strong institutions. All of the areas in which we’re plateauing in our progress are categorized as facing “significant challenges,” according to the report.

And where we need to get cracking: The sole SDG category in which Egypt was marked as seeing decreasing progress is reaching no poverty. Egypt has stagnated in cutting back on the percentage of its population living in poverty, while the proportion of the population that is categorized as living in extreme poverty has grown, the report says.

The past year has not been too kind to the majority of the globe. Out of the 17 SDGs, not one has been able to be met globally. The world is off track on SDG13 (climate action), with global warming at 1.2°C during 2022 and rising 0.3°C per decade. Healthy food and water supplies have been riddled – 40% of the world drinks contaminated water and fisheries are being destroyed. On the other hand, hundreds of mns of children remain uneducated – it seems as though achieving the Sustainable Development Goals are unthinkable.

But in spite of a grim future, there is still hope. The SDGs can still be met, the report claims. Investing in the SDGs capital assets and sustainable resources, which will aid the world in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, is the solution. Meanwhile, halting any investment into activities that threaten the earth and its inhabitants is also part of the remedy.

SDG assets? There are eight identified factors of sustainable capital assets: Human capital, infrastructure, natural capital, innovation capital, business capital, social capital, urban capital, and cultural capital. These factors blend together in order to create a functioning and healthy community that is ready to enact change and prepared to improve.

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