In 2015, the 193 UN member countries adopted the UN Resolution on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) encompass 169 targets and 244 indicators designed to measure progress made towards achievement of the SDGs. In 2017, the Danish government at the time published a national action plan for following upon the SDGs. The action plan includes 37 national targets. This report takes stock of the ministries’ work with the SDGs in Denmark in the period from 2015 to 2020. The report answers the following questions:
- How have the ministries worked with the SDGs in terms of the UN targets as well as the former government’s action plan?
- Was the ministries’ reporting on progress suited to inform the Folketing of progress made against the national targets set in the action plan?
- Has Statistics Denmark reported on the UN targets and indicators in a satisfactory manner?
Rigsrevisionen finds that so far, the ministries’ work with the SDGs has been based on their assessment that their general activities and policies already embrace the SDGs. Rigsrevisionen’s study shows that the ministries have only in exceptional cases taken new initiatives or made particular plans to realise the SDGs. It is Rigsrevisionen’s assessment that the ministries’ and Statistics Denmark’s reporting has not been well suited to inform the recipients of progress made against achievement of the SDGs in Denmark. As a consequence, neither the Folketing nor the public has easy access to information about progress made towards realisation of the UN SDGs in Denmark.
Rigsrevisionen initiated the study in November 2019 at the request of the Danish Public Accounts Committee.
Read the introduction and conclusion (PDF)