Research related to the SDGs
Instructors interested in research, reports and books related to the SDGs can peruse a collection of academic material here.
- Read the Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals 2018: From World Development Indicators, a visual guide to the trends, challenges and measurement issues related to each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
- Read Dr. Mark Terry’s book The Geo-Doc – Geomedia, Documentary Film and Social Change. Terry’s book introduces a new form of documentary film: the Geo-Doc, designed to maximize the influential power of the documentary film as an agent of social change. He also talks about The Youth Climate Report, a project he created and maintains in conjunction with the UNEP, which is a temporal, locative, evolving new form of a documentary film which he pins 3-minute videos submitted by students from around the world that examine climate change and other environmental issues.
- Read Geomedia as a Pedagogical Tool: Toward Sustainability Competence,’ in The Emerging Role of Geomedia in the Environmental Humanities, by Michael John. Michael explores the use of geomedia projects (digital maps and eco-docs) as classroom teaching tools.
- Read the book Empowering Students to Improve The World in Sixty Lessons, which provides tools to assist students, teachers and the educational community in educating global citizens and contains 60 lessons that support global citizenship education.
- Read Introduction to the Sustainable Development Goals by Jocelyn Baker. Read the book Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development Goals: Insights from Agriculture, Health, Environment, and Energy. This book provides an interdisciplinary lens to understand the potential roles and contributions of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in meeting the SDGs, and the associated challenges and requirements.
- Read Leading Transformative Change Collectively: A Practitioner Guide to Realizing the SDGs by Kuenkel, Kuhn, Stucker and Williamson, 2021. From the Open Research Library.
- Visit the Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, a forum for academics and practitioners to share and critique innovations in thinking and practice in the emerging field of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). A peer-reviewed international journal, JESD is aimed at global readership and is published twice a year.
- Visit the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, which aims to provide up-to-date information on new developments and trends in sustainability in a higher education context, and to catalyze networking and information exchange on sustainable development, and the SDGs on a global basis.
- Visit the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, a forum for the dissemination of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in higher education for the community of teacher-scholars.
- Visit the Journal of Sustainability Education which serves as a forum for academics and practitioners to share, critique, and promote research, practices, and initiatives that foster the integration of economic, ecological, and socio-cultural dimensions of sustainability within formal and non-formal educational contexts. JSE is a peer-reviewed, open-access, trans- and interdisciplinary e-journal.
- Read the British Columbia Council for International Cooperation report titled ‘Reading Between the Lines: Accelerated Implementation of Agenda 2030’. The BCCIC hopes to contribute to the critical debate on Canada’s role in developing and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Read Dr. Jason Watkins’ study Hungry and Hesitant: An Exploration of the Experience of Stigma Among On-Campus Food Pantry Users . This phenomenological research was grounded in reflective lifeworld research and focused on college food insecurity through shared, lived experiences and noted three emerging themes and the strategies participants used to navigate the stigma. His findings can contribute towards informing best practices and creating strategies for administrators that promote inclusion and service utilization
- Read the Eco-Schools article titled ‘The Improvement of Eco-school Students’ Environmental Awareness in the Context of Education for Sustainable Development by Liga Lace-Jeruma and Rita Birzina, 2019. http://doi.org/10.22616/REEP.2019.010
- The Hope Wheel: a Model to Enable Hope-based Pedagogy in Climate Change Education is an article written by William Finnegan and Cathy d’Abreu (2024) in Frontiers in Psychology 15:1347392. Finnegan and d’Abreu state “in response to concerns about climate anxiety and distress, researchers and practitioners in both education and psychology have been investigating the importance of engaging climate hope in Climate Change Education (CCE).” The authors have synthesized recent multidisciplinary research with insights from the development of educational programs and their article proposes a new theoretical model for pedagogies of hope in CCE (Finnegan and d’Abreu, 2024).
- Read Infrastructure and health: laying down the big connections for well-being by Patrick Harris, Evelyne De Leeuw from Oxford Open Infrastructure and Health, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1093/ooih/ouac002
- Read the International Journal of Management Education article titled ‘Interdisciplinarity: Practical Approach to Advancing Education for Sustainability and for the Sustainable Development Goals’ by Annan-Diab and Molinari, 2017.
- Read the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education article titled ‘Online Learning and Teaching for the SDGs – Exploring Emerging University Strategies’ by Holmes, Moraes, Rickards, Steele, Hotker and Richardson, 2022.
- Read the International Journal of Sustainable Engineering article titled ‘UN Sustainable Development Goals: An Engineering Perspective’ by Rahimifard and Trollman, 2018.
- Read the Review of International Geographical Education article titled ‘Instructional Design as a Method of Disaster Management in the Era of SDGs’ by Yamashita and Ali, 2021.
- Read the Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal article titled ‘Education of Sustainable Development Goals Through Students’ Active Engagement: A Transformative Learning Experience’ by Cottafava, Cavaglià and Corazza, 2019.
- Read the Sustainability article titled ‘Cultivating a Collaborative Culture for Ensuring Sustainable Development Goals in Higher Education: An Integrative Case Study’ by Wright, Ritter, Wisse and Gonzales, 2022.
- Browse through the article Boosting the Multilateral System to Achieve the SDGs to grasp the importance of a coordinated multilateral approach for sustainable development.
- Visit Emerald Insight to delve into the insightful chapter on mobilizing higher education action on the SDGs, offering new perspectives on overcoming systemic and structural barriers in our pursuit of the goals.
- Discover how we can enhance our multilateral system to reach Sustainable Development Goals in this thought-provoking article, “Boosting the Multilateral System to Achieve the SDGs.” This resource explores the evidence, resources, and methodologies necessary to address the toughest sustainable development challenges.
- Read the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Report titled ‘Despite Progress Reversal, None of SDGs are Beyond Reach’. The report discusses the current progress of the Sustainable Development Goals and emphasizes the need for increased funding and reform in the global financial architecture to achieve the SDGs.
- Delve into the FABLE Scenathon Public Consultation‘s collaborative endeavour to envision sustainable food and land-use systems by aligning national priorities with global sustainability goals, inviting various stakeholders to refine pathways for sustainable food and land use, as shared by the FABLE Consortium.
- Explore the innovative project E-Gora: The Energy Marketplace, crowned as the winner of the ‘Universities for Goal 13’ competition, offering a user-friendly platform connecting users with nearby renewable energy projects as a stride towards combating climate change, announced by the UN SDSN.
- Explore the outcomes and next steps from the recent SDG Summit and its implications for future SDG progress in this article, courtesy of IISD.
- Delve into the creation of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index by a high-level expert panel and its role in measuring vulnerabilities towards achieving the SDGs in this report, as presented by IISD.
- Delve into the UN Secretary-General’s briefing to Member States on the progress under “Our Common Agenda,” encompassing the launch of advisory boards on local and regional governments and artificial intelligence to enhance governance recommendations by the end of 2023, as described by IISD.
- Explore the dialogues and resolutions proposed during the Ministerial Forum urging UNEA-6 to address the environmental challenges in the Asia-Pacific region with practical, inclusive, and sustainable multilateral actions to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, as reported by IISD.
- Discover how weather, climate, and water-related sciences can be leveraged to advance all SDGs in the multi-agency report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization, emphasizing the urgent need for scientific advancements to boost progress towards achieving the SDGs, as highlighted by IISD.
- Delve into the complexities of formulating extensive regulations for deep-sea mining and its consequential impacts on SDG 14 through insights provided in an article by SDG IISD.
- Read the UN Secretary-General’s Report titled ‘Long-term Future Trends and Scenarios: Impacts on the Realization of the Sustainable Development Goals’. The report reflects on long-term trends and identifies scientific and technological breakthroughs as potential game-changers in achieving the SDGs.
- Read the Briefing Note on the Indigenous People’s Rights and the 2030 Agenda from The Office of the High Commission for Human Rights and the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Read the short flyer of the highlights with substantive inputs.
- Read the Brookings Institute report titled ‘A New Approach to Spurring Action for the Sustainable Development Goals. The report describes a new approach to stimulating cooperative action toward Sustainable Development Goals. As an experimental method for SDG convening and problem-solving, 17 Rooms aims to surface practical next steps within each goal while also stimulating productive connections across all goals.
- Read the Education 2030 report guide titled ‘Unpacking Sustainable Development Goal 4’.
- Read the Education 2030 report titled ‘Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4’.
- Read Global Education Monitoring Report titled ‘Accountability in Education: Meeting Our Commitments.’
- Read the Global Education Monitoring Report titled ‘Education for people and planet: Creating sustainable futures for all.’
- Read the Greening EU Cooperation article titled ‘Eco-schools: environmental education and sustainable development: Stories of transformational change.
- Read the International Labour Organization report titled ‘Sustainable Development Goals: Indigenous Peoples in Focus.’ It looks at all goals and the role played by the ILO in making the SDGs a reality for Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous Peoples as agents of change.
- Read the UNESCO DOC 2014 titled ‘Aichi-Nagoya Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development.’
- Read the UNESCO DOC 2021 titled ‘Instructors Have Their Say: Motivation, Skills and Opportunities to Teach Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship.’
- Read UNESCO’s report titled ‘Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education.
- Read about the United Nations conferences in the past on environmental and sustainable development.
- Read the United Nations Documents Cooperation Circles Agenda 21 chapter 36 titled ‘Promoting Education, Public Awareness and Training.
- Read the United Nations General Assembly document titled ‘Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
- Read the United Nations General Assembly document titled ‘Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Read the World Commission on Environment and Development Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future.
- The UN Secretary-General presents an annual SDG Progress report every year which is developed in cooperation with the UN System. The reports provide a global overview of progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and are based on the global indicator framework and data produced by national statistical systems and information collected at the regional level. The progress reports from 2016 to 2022 are below:
- Read about the outcomes of the GEF Council Meeting to understand how the GBF Fund will strengthen biodiversity management. This news highlights efforts towards sustainable development goals.
- Check out the UN-Water’s Blueprint for Accelerated Action on Water and Sanitation to see how they plan to fast-track progress on clean water and sanitation (SDG 6).
- Read the UNCTAD SDG Progress Report to understand the costs associated with achieving the SDGs and the areas where financing is needed the most.
- Learn about the High-Level Political Forum’s review of SDG 7 in the report “Report Launch Event Sets Stage for HLPF’s Review of SDG 7.” This document provides critical recommendations for implementing the Global Roadmap for Accelerated SDG 7 Action.
- The “WHO/UNICEF Progress Report Analyzes Gender Inequalities in WASH” highlights the gender disparities in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices at the household level. This report underscores the challenges we must tackle to attain SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation).
- Delve into the issues concerning the implementation of the Montreal Protocol in the article, “Montreal Protocol OEWG Discusses Issues of Concern for Implementation.” This piece presents comprehensive discussions about the Replenishment Task Force’s report, which sheds light on the financial requirements needed to support the protocol’s objectives, helping us advance towards SDG 13 (Climate Action).
- Explore this comprehensive policy brief that outlines the challenges faced by women and gender-diverse human rights defenders in migration contexts, providing recommendations for states to create safer environments. This document closely aligns with SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions).
- Explore the Fit for the Future: Developing a post-school learning system to fuel economic transformation report to gain insights on Scotland’s efforts to fuel economic transformation through lifelong learning. This report is crucial for understanding the intersection of quality education (SDG 4), economic growth (SDG 8), and innovation (SDG 9).
- Read about the first youth-led report that uses the SDGs to measure young people’s progress towards sustainable development in Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific regions.
- In the webinar report, “Webinar Outlines Efforts to Address Plastic Pollution in Mountain Regions, ” understand the impacts of plastic pollution in mountain regions.” This report underscores the challenges posed by plastic waste to biodiversity and freshwater resources and how these issues affect remote, mountainous regions, relating closely to SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 15 (Life on Land).
- “2023 Sustainable Development Report (SDR)” – A comprehensive online resource providing the most current data to track and rank the performance of all UN Member States on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A valuable tool for teachers looking to enhance lessons on the SDGs with up-to-date and detailed information. Visit the website.
- Review the findings of the Conference on Helping Developing Countries Reap Benefits from Natural Resources to understand how fiscal policies can help achieve economic, social, and environmental goals in a balanced way, supporting efforts towards SDG 8, SDG 10, and SDG 15.
- Visit The Washington Post for a comprehensive 2023 Sustainable Development Report (SDR) analysis. The article provides in-depth insights into the world’s progress toward meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), highlighting the potential of a “lost decade for sustainable development.” This piece underlines the urgent need for transforming global governance and finance mechanisms to expedite progress toward all the SDGs.
- Visit Taylor & Francis to view their SDG online collection, an interdisciplinary collection of digital content mapped to the UN SDGs. There are more than 12,000 book chapters and journal articles covering all 17 SDGs, and the collection also features new multi-format teaching and learning resources, including core essays, presentations, videos, case studies, teaching guides, and lesson plans.
- Visit the South African SDG Hub to access training and a database with the intelligent search feature that enables users to receive literature recommendations based on a PDF file scan. The South African SDG Hub is a digital platform that hosts more than 150,000 research articles. It uses machine learning to classify these articles in terms of one or several SDGs.
- The Sustainable Development Goals Progress Chart 2022 presents a snapshot of the global and regional progress of selected targets under the 17 Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.