Data extracted in April 2026.
Planned article update: June 2027.
Highlights
This article is a part of a set of statistical articles, which are based on the Eurostat publication ’Sustainable development in the European Union — Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context — 2026 edition’. This report is the tenth edition of Eurostat’s series of monitoring reports on sustainable development, which provide a quantitative assessment of progress of the EU towards the SDGs in an EU context.
The global 2030 Agenda for sustainable development
Sustainable development is commonly defined as ‘development which meets the needs of the current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ [1]. Achieving sustainable development at a global level requires coordinated action. Since the early 1990’s, the UN has served as the forum to agree on respective international commitments. From 2000 to 2015, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were the blueprint for meeting the needs of the world’s most vulnerable.
In 2015, the UN action plan ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ extended the social endeavour of the MDGs with economic, environmental and institutional objectives. The 2030 Agenda sets 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (see Figure 1) and 169 related targets to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity and peace.
The SDGs are unprecedented in terms of significance and scope by setting a broad range of economic, social and environmental objectives and calling for action by all countries, regardless of their level of development. Although the SDGs are not legally binding, governments are expected to take ownership and establish national frameworks for achieving the 17 goals. The UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) is the UN’s central platform to follow up and review the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs at the global level. The HLPF also conducts regular in-depth reviews of progress on the SDGs and includes Voluntary National Reviews where countries present the findings from national reviews of progress with a view to accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
To monitor progress, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a global SDG indicator list, covering 232 indicators, in July 2017. It was designed by an Inter-Agency and Expert Group under the supervision of the UN Statistical Commission. In 2020 and 2025, comprehensive reviews resulted in a revised global SDG indicator framework consisting of 234 unique indicators.
The SDGs are monitored at various levels: global, regional, national, local and thematic. Besides the EU regional monitoring done in this report, the European Commission contributed to the UN’s global SDG monitoring in 2023 through the first EU voluntary review. This reflected on the collective effort of the EU and its Member States towards implementing the SDGs.
Sustainable development in the European Union
Sustainable development is at the heart of European policymaking. It is firmly anchored in the European Treaties [2] and is integrated in key projects, sectorial policies and initiatives. Several major policy documents bear witness to the EU’s evolving approach to implementing the SDGs. In its communication ‘Next steps for a sustainable European future: European action for sustainability’, the European Commission announced the integration of the SDGs into the European policy framework as early as 2016. In 2019, a reflection paper ‘Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030’ highlighted the challenges the EU faces and identified the competitive advantages that implementing the SDGs offers the EU. The EU’s approach to implementing the 2030 Agenda is described in detail in the Commission staff working document ‘Delivering on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals — A comprehensive approach’. For a complete overview of the European Commission’s activities related to SDG implementation, see the Commission’s website on the EU’s holistic approach to sustainable development.
Commission President von der Leyen’s Political Guidelines for 2024 to 2029 put forward seven key priorities designed to create a faster, simpler, and more united Union — one that supports its people and businesses, takes decisive action where it can make the greatest impact, and advances shared ambitions. Sustainable development remains fully embedded in the Commissions’ priorities for 2024 to 2029, as shown in Figure 2. One key priority, ‘A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness’ aims to make business easier and faster, reach a Clean Industrial Deal, put research and innovation at the heart of the economy, and shift to a more circular and resilient economy. Another priority, ‘A new era for European defence and security’ aims to ensure safety and security in Europe, which are essential pre-conditions for sustainable development. Under the priority ‘Supporting people, strengthening our societies and our social model’ the Commission pursues the objectives of social fairness, equality and a reunited society. The priority ‘Sustaining our quality of life: Food security, water and nature’ addresses competitiveness and sustainability of the farming and fishing sector, while preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems as well as Europe’s water security. This will boost climate resilience and preparedness. The institutional dimension of sustainability is covered through ‘Protecting our democracy, upholding our values’ and ‘A global Europe: Leveraging our power and partnerships’.
Throughout 2025 and 2026, the Commission has launched several initiatives to deliver on these priorities. In 2025, it presented the Competitiveness Compass, a roadmap to restore Europe's dynamism and secure sustainable prosperity. Building on the analysis in Mario Draghi’s report on the future of European competitiveness, the Compass provides a strategic framework to guide the Commission's work during this mandate. It specifies the three key imperatives for enhancing EU competitiveness — closing the innovation gap, developing a joint strategy for decarbonisation and competitiveness, and increasing security while reducing excessive dependencies. It includes a timeline for key actions, featuring many initiatives which will contribute to the SDGs such as the Clean Industrial Deal, the Action Plan on Affordable Energy, the Vision for Agriculture and Food, the Union of Skills, the Water Resilience Strategy, the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan and the EU Climate law amendment.
Major SDG-related initiatives launched by the Commission in 2026 include the EU’s first-ever Anti-Poverty Strategy, the European Affordable Housing Plan, the Gender Equality Strategy 2026–2030 and the Clean Energy Investment Strategy. Furthermore, the Commission has launched its first Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness, following commitments set out in the Commission's 2024–2029 political guidelines pledging that the EU should ensure that ‘decisions taken today do no harm to future generations, and that there is increased solidarity and engagement between people of different ages’.
Each chapter in this report provides an overview of EU policies and targets related to the respective SDGs.
Monitoring sustainable development in the EU
Regular monitoring and reporting on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context is an essential part of the Commission’s continued dedication to sustainable development. It helps to coordinate SDG-related policies at both EU and Member State level and highlights their cross-cutting nature. Eurostat is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the SDGs in the EU and has published annual SDG monitoring reports to this end since 2017.
The monitoring exercise is based on the EU SDG indicator set. It is structured along the 17 SDGs and covers the social, economic, environmental and institutional dimensions of sustainability as represented by the 2030 Agenda. Progress towards each SDG is measured by six main indicators. These have been selected for their policy relevance from an EU perspective, availability, country coverage, data freshness and quality, reflecting the SDGs’ broad objectives and ambitions. Preference is given to indicators which are part of a high-level scoreboard of EU policies such as the Social Scoreboard for the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan or the Monitoring Framework for the 8th Environment Action Programme, due to their relevance. Out of the 102 indicators, 34 are ‘multi-purpose’, meaning they are used to monitor more than one goal. This allows highlighting the link between different goals and enhances this report’s narrative. Around two-thirds of the current EU SDG indicators are aligned with the UN SDG indicators.
The EU SDG indicator set is not static but evolves over time to reflect new policy objectives and indicator development. For this purpose, the indicator set is reviewed annually in close cooperation with the Commission services, the European Environment Agency and Member State institutes in the European Statistical System, and in consultation with the Council Committees and Working Parties.
This SDG monitoring report provides an assessment of observed progress towards SDG-related EU objectives and targets. The assessment considers whether an indicator has moved towards or away from the sustainable development objective, as well as the speed of this movement. If an explicit quantified and measurable target exists for the EU, it is used to assess the progress of the indicator. Otherwise, a different method is used based on a general objective, meaning the desired direction in which an indicator should develop. The two methods are explained in Annex II of the printed publication.
The indicators are assessed for the most recent 5- and 15-year periods of available data, to establish whether a development was persistent or showed a turnaround at a certain point in time. Table 1 shows the symbols used for the progress assessment and explains their meaning for the two approaches (indicators with and without quantitative targets).
Other European Commission services and the European Environmental Agency also issue reports on sustainability. The assessments in those reports may differ due to a different scope and methodology, in particular when these assessments take into account planned measures or projections rather than observed developments only.
Footnotes
- The definition was introduced in 1987 through the Brundtland report. ↑
- Articles 3 (5) and 21 (2) of the Treaty on European Union. ↑
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Thematic section
Methodology
More detailed information on EU SDG indicators for monitoring of progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as indicator relevance, definitions, methodological notes, background and potential linkages can be found in the introduction as well as in Annex II of the publication ’Sustainable development in the European Union — Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context — 2026 edition’.