On 23 May, Eurostat launched the publication "Sustainable development in the European Union — 2022 monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context".  The report provides a statistical overview of the progress towards the SGDs in the EU. Together with the report, Eurostat also provided a short brochure, interactive visualisation tools and a methodology report.

Like in previous years, the EU continued to make the most progress towards fostering peace and personal security within its territory and improving access to justice and trust in institutions (SDG 16).

The results also show significant progress towards four additional SDGs (two more than the last edition): reducing poverty and social exclusion (SDG 1), the economy and the labour market (SDG 8), clean and affordable energy (SDG 7) and innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9). Some of those results partly reflect the impact of Covid-19 such as the remarkable reduction in energy consumption in 2020, which benefited positively SDG 7.

Most SDGs recorded moderate progress, with some achieving better progress than others: SDG 3 ‘Good health and well-being’, SDG 14 ‘Life below water’, SDG 5 ‘Gender equality’, SDG 11 ‘Sustainable cities and communities’, SDG 10 ‘Reduced inequalities’, SDG 12 ‘Responsible consumption and production’, SDG 2 ‘Zero hunger’, SDG 4 ‘Quality education’ and SDG 13 ‘Climate action’. On the basis of the current set of indicators, for SDG 17 ‘partnerships for the goals’ and SDG 6 ‘Clean water and sanitation’ there was no progress. In contrast with the last edition, there is no SDG for which the EU notably moved away from the sustainable development objectives. The least performing SDG is SDG 15 ‘Life on land’, with a slight movement away from the respective Sustainable Development objectives over the past five years, indicating that ecosystems and biodiversity remained under pressure from human activities.  

The indicator set for the 2022 report was reviewed to align with the 8th Environment Action Programme and the new targets of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. The report also provides an improved analysis of spillover effects covering CO2 emissions, land footprint, material footprint and gross value added generated outside the EU by consumption inside the EU.

As per the last version, it also includes an analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the SDGs. The impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not yet reflected in the 2022 SDG report, given that 2022 data are not yet available.

More information.