This eighth report in the Progressing National SDGs Implementation series examines the 39 Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) presented in July 2023 to the United Nations during the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). These reports are intended to hold UN member states accountable to their citizens and each other on reaching the visionary SDGs but can vary widely in terms of depth of data, inclusion of civil society voices, and adherence to the UN Secretary-General’s Updated Voluntary Common Reporting Guidelines for VNRs.

As with previous editions, the 2023 Progressing National SDG Implementation report provides an annual “SDG reality check” by interspersing countries’ official analysis with direct responses and additional insights from spotlight reports submitted by broad coalitions of civil society organizations directly involved in SDG implementation and monitoring in each country.

Key findings include the following:

• most countries have continued to improve means of implementation and their overarching policy processes to formally mainstream the SDGs within national policy frameworks;
• a considerable number of reports focus on cross-cutting and systemic issues, in part due to lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to address intersecting global crises;
• many reports generally lack tangible evidence of iterative policy-making for the SDGs, which is critical to learning from past experiences and setting future targets that are both realistic and ambitious;
• while there are some good examples of self-critical and forward-looking analyses, the bulk of VNRs fall short of the standard set in the UN Secretary-General’s VNR Guidelines;
• there is an increasing tendency to view opportunities to dialogue with civil society groups as a “tick box” exercise—a formal requirement with limited impact on the drafting of the final VNR.

Springboarding off the VNR gaps and best practices of 2023, this report makes recommendations for both the country-level and global actions to improve VNR reporting and accelerate the achievement of the SDGs as their deadline edges closer.

This report was coordinated by Action for Sustainable Development (A4SD) in collaboration with diverse partner organizations, including Cooperation Canada, British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND), Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE), Forus, Global Focus, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Save the Children UK, and Sightsavers.

2023 VNRs were submitted by the following countries: Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada, Central African Republic, Chile, Comoros, Croatia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, European Union, Fiji, France, Guyana, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Maldives, Mongolia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, and Zambia.

Plans have been developed to create both an International Center for Trade and Economic Cooperation (ICTEC) Central Asia and a trade and logistics centre between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to promote close and mutually beneficial trade relationships along the Shymkent–Tashkent–Khujand economic corridor. These projects aim to provide a modern and more efficient border crossing for people, vehicles, and goods, creating jobs, increasing trade and investment from the private sector, fostering economic cooperation, and boosting the tourism sector.

We carried out a Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) assessment of the transport and building infrastructure in the economic corridor. The objective of this assessment is to gain insight and raise awareness of the impact of sustainable infrastructure on the efficiency of trade, energy efficiency and energy use, congestion, commuting times, number of road accidents, CO2 emissions, and employment creation.

Are current fiscal approaches and policies aligned with national strategies, including ensuring that mineral-rich developing countries collect an appropriate share of the financial benefits from critical minerals value chains? If not, what needs to change?

This report seeks to answer these fundamental questions about financial benefit sharing in relation to critical and strategic minerals for the energy and digital transition.

While the financial benefit-sharing challenges and opportunities in extracting and processing critical minerals are not fundamentally different from the commonly known challenges facing mining revenue collection in general, some nuances require further investigation. This report seeks to identify these nuances in the key features of critical minerals and the new challenges and opportunities they present to fiscal regulation.

The year saw the last of the COVID pandemic-delayed milestones completed. Countries adopted major decisions to improve global chemicals management and protect marine life in international waters. But most of the year was about making all these rules work.

Join the globetrotting Earth Negotiations Bulletin team as they review 2023's sustainable development negotiations, draw links between the talks, and look down the road to what the coming months hold for environmental multilateralism. With unique insights gained from observing talks on climate change, biodiversity, chemicals, SDGs, forests, land, and more, the fifth edition of The State of Global Environmental Governance explores both the triumphs and misses of the international effort to build a better future for our planet.

Foreword by Ambassador Peter Thomson, UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean.

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Public procurement is responsible for approximately 15% of worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to recent research from the World Economic Forum. “Greening” public procurement is therefore a critical strategy to support the reduction of GHG emissions related to government activities.

In recent years, the use of GPP increased significantly. Nearly all Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries have formulated strategies or policies aimed at facilitating the integration of environmental goals into the public procurement process. To advance GPP, countries have reformed their legal and policy frameworks to enable or mandate GPP, improved the capacities of public procurers, and developed guidebooks, tools, and standard criteria for GPP. However, establishing GPP monitoring systems to track progress has often been an afterthought.

Effective GPP monitoring is key for countries to track progress toward their climate goals. For this report, we outline the importance of monitoring Green Public Procurement (GPP) and highlight the various methodologies, challenges and recommendations for improved monitoring practices. This report focuses specifically on improving the monitoring of the impact of GPP on GHG and carbon dioxide emission reductions.

An analysis of GPP practices in South Korea, Japan, Slovenia, Denmark, Malaysia, and the Netherlands reveals that successful GPP monitoring is driven by strong government support, effective collaboration, and access to necessary tools and resources. Despite these efforts, challenges such as insufficient data, knowledge constraints, and the complexity of GPP monitoring tools persist.

To address these challenges, we recommend that governments and procuring authorities

• define clear GPP objectives and targets,
• establish a legal and policy framework that mandates monitoring and establishes roles and responsibilities,
• foster effective collaboration among various governmental bodies,
• strengthen data management and control,
• invest in training and capacity building for procurement staff, and
• promote effective communication.

Implementing these recommendations will allow governments improve their efforts to monitor GPP and GPP impacts. This will, in turn provide, them with the necessary evidence to keep increasing GPP efforts and ensuring the use of public procurement as a driver of climate and sustainable development goals.

Mapping India's Energy Policy 2023 is the latest publication in a series of annual updates on government support for energy in India. This year's publication highlights the key shifts in India's energy policy over the last decade, between fiscal year (FY) 2014 and FY 2023.

We found that India's fossil fuel subsidies have declined by 59% since 2014—an accomplishment that many other large economies have struggled to achieve. However, the 2022 energy crisis—together with India’s growing energy demand—has led the country to bolster all forms of energy supplies and adopt a mixed approach to fossil fuels and clean energy.

Key Findings:

• India's mixed approach led its energy subsidies to increase to INR 3.2 lakh crore (USD 39.3 billion) in FY 2023—the highest amount in 9 years. Both clean energy and fossil fuel subsidies grew by around 40% from FY 2022.
• Fossil fuels subsidies remained five times the subsidies for clean energy in FY 2023.
• Following the 2022 energy crisis and soaring energy demand, India responded to peaking fossil fuel prices in 2022–23 by capping retail prices of petrol, diesel, and domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), cutting taxes, providing direct budgetary transfers to businesses and consumers, and supporting existing energy supplies. As a result, oil and gas subsidies rose by 63% in FY 2023.
• On the other hand, renewable energy subsidies also grew to INR 14,843 crore (USD 1.8 billion) in FY 2023, an 8% increase over FY 2022, but remain low when compared to fossil fuels.
• During this period, India is also emerging as one of the fastest-growing markets for EVs, with EV subsidies reaching an all-time high in FY 2023—but the future of government support remains unclear.
• Besides energy subsidies, the study also aggregates annual data on capital expenditure of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and lending by public financial institutions as critical state actors. It finds that new build-out plans of energy-related SOEs show early signs of diversification into clean energy, but spending remains too low to achieve India’s 2030 clean energy targets.

Based on these findings, the report also accompanies several recommendations for the consideration of policy-makers and relevant stakeholders. As India prepares for a full budget in July, the Government of India has an opportunity to design financial flows—starting with public financial flows under its direct control—consistent with its own net-zero targets and sustainable development.

Transport is a crucial part of modern society, connecting communities and fostering development. However, the impact of the transport sector on the planet is huge, causing over 20% of global carbon dioxide emissions. It is therefore one of the main drivers of climate change while also having significant impacts on human health.

Financial decision-makers have the power to use investment to build better, greener transport. However, conventional financial analysis is inadequate in capturing the intricate dynamics of the modern world, as demonstrated by the surge in environmental challenges, social inequalities, and cyclical financial crises.

When assessing transport projects, non-financial considerations should be integrated, including the positive or negative externalities arising from the project. These are either the costs or benefits impacting third parties, including individuals or society.

For example, if a sustainable transport project improves air quality in a city, the resulting health benefits for the residents would constitute a positive externality. Conversely, negative externalities are costs that are similarly borne by third parties, such as pollution caused by vehicle emissions, which can have adverse effects on public health.

The persistent neglect of integrating these externalities means that investment continues to be driven toward carbon-intensive road transport, at the expense of sustainable transport alternatives. In this paper, we hope to encourage a more holistic approach to evaluating sustainable transport projects, enabling financial decision-makers to have a more comprehensive understanding of the project’s overall value and promote the development of more sustainable projects.

Soybeans serve as an important source of protein for both humans and animals thanks to their versatility, affordability, and nutritional benefits. Around three quarters of soybean production is used for animal feed, and a fifth is consumed as edible oils and food products.

The global soybean sector has experienced rapid growth in the past 5 decades. But the sector is both vulnerable to and a driver of critical sustainability challenges, including deforestation, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Establishing deforestation-free supply chains is critical to ensuring the sector sustains and nourishes us without harming the natural environment that it relies on.

Voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) such as the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS), ProTerra Foundation, and Organic have been working to address sustainability challenges in the soybean sector for the past 3 decades. They support and promote practices that can help soybean farmers and workers preserve vital ecosystems and build resilience to climate impacts.

Becoming certified can also help soybean farmers negotiate higher prices or premiums with buyers. But the processing and trading of soybeans are controlled by a few multinational companies that operate at a pinch point in the value chain. They can buy from a wide range of producers and sell to an equally wide range of consumers. These powerful actors hold all the power, whereas farmers bear most of the financial and environmental risks of production—as well as the costs of certification.

While pursuing certification can improve farmers’ productivity, help them save costs on inputs, and provide them with access to finance, more direct financial incentives are needed to motivate more farmers to get on board. This report provides recommendations for how governments, private sector actors, and standard-setting bodies can work together to reward farmers for using sustainable practices and better distribute the costs of production and certification throughout the value chain

The Tirana–Durres metropolitan region in Albania accommodates 37% of the country's population and accounts for 48% of the country's GDP. Despite being one of the most developed economic areas in the country, the region faces significant transportation challenges due to its reliance on road transport and an outdated railway network that has not received adequate investment or maintenance in the last 25 years. As a result, railway passenger and freight traffic has steadily declined over the years.

To address this problem, proposals have been made to rehabilitate the Tirana-Durres railway line and establish a new railway connection to Rinas International Airport, with the aim of improving Albania's railway transport and its economic performance by facilitating efficient passenger and trade movements while also reducing the use of polluting transport modes and decreasing carbon dioxide emissions.

This SAVi assessment analyzes the multiple economic, social, and environmental benefits that the Tirana–Durres railway will have in the region after it is rehabilitated. The assessment shows that the railway system would provide a more efficient, safe, accessible, and environmentally friendly mode of transportation in the region while delivering substantial monetary benefits.

Key findings include:

• The Tirana–Durres railway is a highly profitable project, generating cumulative (2023–2053), discounted (3.5%) net benefits of EUR 415.51 million.
• When accounting for the full range of added benefits and avoided costs to the region, the Tirana–Durres railway results in an integrated benefit-cost ratio of 4.79.
• The greatest impact of the Tirana–Durres railway is the avoided vehicle operating costs that will result from the shift from road transport to the railway, followed by the health benefits from avoided air pollution costs and increased physical activity and time saved.

Indonesia, home to the fourth largest population in the world, is exposed to significant climate change risks, experiencing high air pollution levels and having much of its population in low-lying areas prone to flooding. At the same time, the country's population and urbanization rates are expected to significantly increase in the coming decades.

Indonesia's transport sector is the most energy intensive sector in the country, and among the most polluting. For this reason, transforming the transport sector is crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving energy efficiency in the long term. The electrification of transport—coupled with a high renewable energy share in electricity generation and a shift from individual, motorized transport modes to public transport and non-motorized modes—could help to decarbonize the transport sector in Indonesia.

The public and private sectors in Indonesia both play significant roles in addressing the ever-increasing environmental challenges. National and regional governments can promote policies that support decarbonization and invest in public transport infrastructure, encouraging individuals to adopt more sustainable transport practices. Similarly, the private sector can support this through investing in and improving innovative electric vehicle technologies.

For this assessment, we considered and combined interventions from both the public and private sectors in Indonesia—investments in public transport, private vehicle electrification, teleworking, and decarbonization of the electricity supply—into net-zero transport strategies. We used our Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) methodology to assess and compare these strategies, demonstrating their economic, social, and environmental added benefits and avoided costs.

Key findings include:

• Combining energy and transport reforms is critical to attaining net-zero transport in Indonesia by 2060; therefore, decarbonizing the energy supply should be an important component of any transport strategy.
• Promoting strategies that combine the electrification of private vehicles with renewable energy sources and investments in public transport infrastructure yield the most substantial societal benefits, such as avoided traffic accidents costs, avoided carbon dioxide emissions, and avoided internal combustion emission vehicle costs.
• The transformation of Indonesia's transport sector requires a collaborative approach that encourages behavioural shifts and promotes investments from both the public and private sectors.
• Integrating health considerations into the broader framework of transport reforms enhances the overall impact on both societal well-being and economic efficiency.