Guest Article: Four Ways the UK is Behind the Curve on SDG Implementation – and What To Do About It | SDG Knowledge Hub | IISD – IISD's SDG Knowledge Hub


Although the pandemic has set back progress on the SDGs, it has also shown us just how interconnected the Goals are.
The UK has fallen behind in its SDG leadership, compared with the countries who presented VNRs in 2021.
Now is the time for the UK to step up and start delivering.
By Alice Whitehead, Bond
The UK played an important role on the global stage in developing the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. It has claimed that it “will be at the forefront of delivering them,” but this is far from what we in UK civil society see in reality. In recent years, progress towards implementing the 2030 Agenda’s ambitious and transformative goals – both in the UK and around the world – has been disappointing.
It has now been more than two and a half since years the UK government presented its Voluntary National Review (VNR) to the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF). Since July 2019, the context has changed significantly for UK civil society. The COVID-19 pandemic has put back progress on achieving the SDGs, pushing millions into poverty, exposing inequalities, disrupting children’s education, and putting pressure on already weak health systems, exacerbating the very problems the SDGs were designed to address.
In 2021, the UK Government also reneged on its commitment to spend 0.7% of GNI on Official Development Assistance (ODA), dropping this to 0.5%, which amounts to a projected real-terms cut of over £4 billion in 2021. This decision has crippled many lifesaving and life-transforming projects around the world with serious implications for the world’s most marginalised communities and for the achievement of the SDGs.
During this turbulent time, we have also seen the merger of the highly respected Department for International Development (DFID) with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), with severe implications for the implementation of UK aid programmes. The UK Government also published its vision for international policy in the shape of the Integrated Review, which will affect how the Government resources and implements international development moving forward.
Despite these multiple and seismic changes in the UK, we are yet to see any meaningful progress on the commitments the UK made in its 2019 VNR, and still the UK government has not committed to a second VNR. As a result, progress on SDG implementation is stalling.
A recent report coordinated by Cooperation Canada and written by a coalition of 13 civil society organisations reviewed the 42 VNRs presented in 2021 and highlighted global trends and good practice regarding national SDG implementation.
Here are four ways in which UK civil society finds that the UK is falling behind the countries who reported in 2021:
It is critical that the UK make progress on the areas outlined above, and this must include establishing a multi-stakeholder engagement mechanism to identify gaps, adapt policies, and target areas where further progress is needed, to ensure no one is left behind.
We are almost halfway to 2030. Although the pandemic has set back progress on the SDGs, it has also shown us just how interconnected the Goals are. World leaders need to be bold, and many are now asking how to deliver transformative change as we begin to rebuild from the pandemic. Now is the time for the UK to step up and start delivering.
This guest article is authored by Alice Whitehead, Public Affairs and SDGs Policy Adviser, at Bond (the UK network of NGOs).
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