Failing Goals

The Bertelsmann Foundation, a German think-tank, warns that the US, Russia and China are lagging in efforts to meet the United Nations 2030 development goals.  The  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) roadmap includes ending global poverty and hunger while working towards quality health and education, clean energy and equality, among other issues.

Bertelsmann said industrialized countries are not serving as role models against a background of growing protectionism and nationalism, as more and more leaders adopt "my country first" policies.

Out of the 157 states compared by Bertelsmann in cooperation with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), the US came in 42nd place, Russia ranked 62nd and China came 71st.

Developed nations are holding back poorer countries, for example, through their geopolitical and economic policies, protection of tax havens and inadequate funding of development aid.

Aart De Geus, chairman of the Bertelsmann Foundation warned G20 leaders meeting in Hamburg this weekend against repeating modern history. "Protectionism is a one-way street which could not bring us back to the implementation of Agenda 2030, but back to 1930. The G20 states should set a clear signal for global goals and against national egoisms in Hamburg."

The report's results "highlight the need for urgent action on the part of G20 countries in making sustainable development a reality both within and beyond their borders," said Jeffrey Sachs, SDSN director, in a statement. "If the world is to achieve the SDGs, all countries must take up the goals as part of their national development strategies and ensure that they take responsibility for their impact on the rest of the world."