About the Sustainable Development Goals
On 25 September 2015 the Hon Julie Bishop MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs, joined 193 Leaders and Ministers from across the globe at the United Nations in New York, to welcome and endorse the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda). Australia actively participated in international discussions to design the 2030 Agenda and supported the involvement of all development actors, including civil society organisations, the private sector, philanthropic organisations and academia.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is made up of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a roadmap for global development efforts to 2030 and beyond and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development – a global plan for financing the Sustainable Development Goals. Under the 17 SDGs, there are 169 targets to help measure progress, with 232 distinct indicators, as agreed at the 48th session of the UN Statistical Commission in March 2017. These indicators have been grouped into three tiers, reflecting how developed the methodology is for reporting against each.
The 2030 Agenda is both a domestic and international agenda. It is well-aligned with Australia's foreign, security, development and trade interests - especially in promoting regional stability, security and economic prosperity. It also helps Australia in advocating for a strong focus on economic growth and development in the Indo-Pacific region and in promoting gender equality, governance and strengthening tax systems.
Each of the 193 countries that signed on to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has committed to producing a Voluntary National Review at least twice over the lifetime of the Agenda. The Voluntary National Reviews are to reflect a country’s efforts and achievements against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Australia will deliver its first Voluntary National Review at the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July 2018.
The Voluntary National Review is a ‘whole of Australia’ report. It is not just about government initiatives and activity: it is about the efforts of the business sector, civil society, academia, communities and individuals. Australians are contributing to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through their work in the care economy, by volunteering, by preserving the natural environment and through their everyday activities.
The Voluntary National Review draws on the activities, engagement and leadership of key civil society, academic and business organisations and their members. In particular, the Australian Council for International Development, the Global Compact Network Australia, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Australia/Pacific, the Australian Council of Social Service and the United Nations Association of Australia have made substantial contributions to the Voluntary National Review through the coordination of outreach events, their expert analysis, and by collecting and compiling case study material. Together, these organisations hosted the 2018 Australian SDGs Summit, where representatives from all sectors discussed Australia’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
Read Australia’s Voluntary National Review here, http://dfat.gov.au/aid/topics/development-issues/2030-agenda/Pages/voluntary-national-review.aspx
Find out more about what Australians are doing to support the Sustainable Development Goals on the Australian SDGs website, https://sdgs.org.au/
The following links provide more information on SDGs:
- Agreement on the SDG indicators https://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/48th-session
- Official list of SDG indicators https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/indicators-list/
- UN Tier system https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/iaeg-sdgs/tier-classification/, https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/database/
- Tier III workplans https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/tierIII-indicators/
- UN SDG site https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs
- UN data custodians (the 56 UN agencies that are responsible for the indicators) https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/dataContacts/
- UN SDG Report https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2017/
- UN ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific – link to home page and to ESCAP Regional Database) http://www.unescap.org/stat/data/
- Asia Pacific SDG Partnership http://sdgasiapacific.net/, data portal http://data.unescap.org/sdg/#datahome
- Other reporting indices in Australia on the SDGS
- Australian National Development Index (ANDI) http://www.andi.org.au/
- AURIN The Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN) https://aurin.org.au/
- Transforming Australia Project (National Sustainable Development Council) https://www.sdgtransformingaustralia.com/
- The Australian SDG website developed by the Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA), with the support of the Australian Government https://sdgs.org.au
