The Sustainable Development Solutions Network – SDSN Greece, the Athens University of Economics and Business, the “Athena” Research Center and the Regional Policy Observatory, together with the support of Data Consultants, are proceeding with the first recording of the progress towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the regional level.
Head of the research team is Professor Phoebe Koundouri (AUEB, “Athena” RC) and includes Dr. Conrad Landis (AUEB), Professor Chrysi Laspidou (“Athena” RC), Mr. Angelos Plataniotis (“Athena” RC), Mr. Agiopoulos Kaptsikas (“Athena” RC), Ms. Thalia Kanellopoulou (Data Consultants), Mr. Vasilios Kasiolas (Regional Policy Observatory, Data Consultants) and Mr. Theofanis Zacharatos (Regional Policy Observatory) . The results of this report are also presented in the maps “https://arcg.is/SHHL0”, created by Ms. Alice Guittard (AUEB) in collaboration with SDGs Today and ESRI using ArcGIS Online.
The goals were adopted in September 2015 at the UN Summit on Sustainable Development:
The aim of the study is to help identify policy priorities, but also to identify major data gaps related to the SDGs at the ‘sub-national level’ (NUTS2).
Why is it necessary to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals at a regional level?
In 2015 the SDGs were adopted by national governments, but with a clear recognition that regions and municipalities would have a key role in their implementation. National governments cannot achieve the ambitious goals of the 2030 agenda without the contribution of cities and regions. National governments have the primary responsibility for implementing the SDGs, however it has been estimated that around 65% of the targets require the involvement of regional and local stakeholders.
What do the survey results show?
The vast majority of Greek regions face major challenges in achieving the following goals:
- SDG1: No Poverty
- SDG9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- SDG10: Reduced Inequality
- SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
On the other hand, most regions have achieved significant improvement in achieving the following objectives:
- SDG2: Zero hunger
- SDG3: Good health and well-being
- SDG5: Gender equality
- SDG6: Clean water and sanitation
- SDG8: Decent work and economic growth
- SDG13: Climate action
- SDG15: Life on land
Regarding SDG 12 “Responsible consumption and production” and SDG 17 “Cooperation for the goals” there is a complete lack of data and resources. Therefore, the report does not take into account the aforementioned objectives.
Taking into account the available data and after the statistical analysis we can safely say that the Region of Thessaly is leading the necessary transformation to achieve the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda, while the Region of Attica is lagging behind.
In more detail and for each goal separately:
- SDG 1 “Zero poverty”: No Region has achieved the goal, while eight regions face major challenges.
- SDG 4 “Quality Education”: No Region has achieved the target, while twelve regions face major challenges.
- SDG 8 “Decent work and economic growth”: No Region has achieved the target, while eight regions face major challenges.
- SDG 9 “Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure”: No Region has achieved the target, while eleven regions face major challenges.
- SDG 10 “Reduced inequalities”: No Region has achieved the target, while twelve regions face major challenges.
- SDG 11 “Sustainable cities and communities”: No Region has achieved the goal, while eleven regions face major challenges.
On the other hand, most Regions have managed to improve greatly in achieving the following objectives, facing fewer obstacles:
- SDG 3 “Good Health and Well-Being”: One Region has already achieved the target, while two others face only minor challenges.
- SDG 5 “Gender equality”: One Region has already achieved the goal, while seven regions face only minor challenges.
- SDG 6 “Clean water and sanitation”: One Region has already achieved the target, while three regions face only minor challenges.
- SDG13 “Climate Action”: One Region has already achieved the target, while three regions face only minor challenges.
- SDG 14 “Life in water”: Two Regions have already achieved the target, while rest of the regions faces only minor challenges.
- SDG 15 “Life on land”: One Region has already achieved the target, while nine regions face only minor challenges.
In summary, the following table illustrates the relative performance of the Greek regions:
Results table
The Region of Thessaly is the only Greek region that has already fulfilled the requirements for sustainability by 2030, at a rate of more than 50%. Some difficulties seem to be faced by the Regions of the Ionian Islands, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, as well as Western Macedonia. On the other hand, the Regions of Attica, South Aegean and Crete should try harder to overcome significant challenges to achieve the SDGs by 2030, given that more than 60% of the Greek population resides in these regions (Eurostat, 2022).
The report is available in PDF format here . You may find the Greek version here.