A new assessment of Australia’s progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) shows that many indicators are stagnating or trending backwards, but bold policy action can reverse negative trends and secure a sustainable future by 2050.
The 17 SDGs were adopted by all countries in 2015, and serve as a foundation for assessing national progress to ensure future generations are better off than their predecessors, and that no-one is left behind.
This is the latest in a series of report cards led by Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI) that evaluates Australia’s progress towards 80 economic, social and environmental targets to be achieved by 2030.
For the first time, the new report also models policy shifts that could boost future progress by 2030 and 2050.
Growing inequalities
The report finds that Australia has mixed progress on sustainable development, with growing inequalities threatening the wellbeing of many Australians.
For example, about 3.3 million Australians live below the poverty line, the share of wealth held by the bottom 40% of Australians has declined by a third in two decades, and parity in education outcomes for students from lower socio-economic groups has fallen by 25% since 2018.
Australia is also falling further behind our peers from the OECD on innovation and environmental sustainability. For example, investments in research and development, and knowledge-based capital have both declined to 40% below the OECD average.
Australia’s material footprint is nearly double that of leading OECD countries, while rates of resource efficiency are three times lower than the European average.
But it’s not all bad news. Australia experiences very high average life expectancy and levels of tertiary education, safety and trust, and has made recent gains in areas such as gender equity, clean energy and employment.
For example, the gender gap in superannuation fell from 53% in 2014 to 21% in 2021, while the share of renewable electricity has almost quadrupled since 2010.