Italy versus Other European Countries: Sustainable Development Goals, Policies and Future Hypothetical Results

Abstract

The topic of sustainable development has become increasingly central to the international community. In 2015, the UN approved the 2030 Agenda, an action plan aimed at pursuing sustainable development. The founding elements of the 2030 Agenda are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that refer to different areas of development. The objective of this study is to determine the state of implementation of the SDGs in Italy and to understand to what extent the country will be able to reach European standards in 2030 under current policies. To this end, a quantitative analysis was carried out which, thanks to the use of official statistics and the FORECAST.ETS function, made it possible to identify the value that the indicators will have in 2030. In addition, the dynamic index methodology was applied to measure the degree of implementation of the SDGs between two different historical periods: 2018 and 2030. The analyses carried out shows that Italy needs to take urgent measures to meet its commitment to the 2030 Agenda. The study offers one of the first insights into the implementation of the 2030 Agenda as, in addition to analyzing the country’s performance, it examines the pursuit of the SDGs within the country itself. It is therefore believed that the results may be of interest to governments, experts, and academics.