Analysis of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in a selected group of European countries

Abstract

For this year 2020, the European Union will have managed to reach its objectives within the climate and energy framework, bringing them closer to achieving the eradication of this environmental crisis. Since 1987, the words "sustainability" and "development" have been present in every plan to combat various world problems, one of them being climate change. In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were established, 17 goals aimed at solving these global problems, 6 of those being related to the environment. Apart from the SDG’s, the EU has established its own climate and energy targets to sustain the achievement of these 6 environmental related goals. The analysis of the achieved progress of these targets in relations to the SDG’s is the main purpose of this project. While doing a descriptive analysis, a multi factorial analysis has been made to see the similarities and characteristic between different EU countries. The results revealed great progress achieved since the implementation of the SDG's, however not all member states have progressed at the same pace or to the same degree as others, for example the states most affected by the 2008 financial crisis have had great difficulty achieving the goals for this year 2020. Nevertheless, small progress is better than no progress at all.