GlobeScan-SustainAbility Survey 2019: Evaluating Progress on the SDGs

Who’s behind it? – GlobeScan, SustainAbility

How can it help? – In 2017, sustainability experts from all over the world were asked to evaluate progress on sustainable development and specifically the SDGs. At the time, the experts tended to agree that society’s progress on sustainable development had been poor. Two years later, experts were once again asked to evaluate progress on individual Global Goals, rank their relative urgency and share insights into the priorities within their own organizations as well as amongst individual corporate sectors.

This report draws comparisons between the survey findings in 2019 and the data collected from the previous SDG survey two years ago. It also examines progress made since 2005 when the pool of expert respondents was first asked to comment on global progress on sustainable development.

Overall, the findings underline the sense of urgency felt by global experts for key players, such as national governments, institutional investors and the private sector, to take meaningful action on achieving the Global Goals. While action, particularly on climate change, is increasing, experts note that it is failing to occur at either the scale or speed that is needed to achieve a sustainable future.