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SDG

SDG

Dom Billings

A podcast about the UN Sustainable Development Goals, 17 goals adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2015.

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Top 10 SDG Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best SDG episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to SDG for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite SDG episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

SDG - SDG Target #8.5
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06/11/24 • -1 min

SDG #8 is to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Within SDG #8 are 12 targets, of which we here focus on Target 8.5:

By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value

Target 8.5 has two indicators:

  • Indicator 8.5.1: Average hourly earnings of employees, by sex, age, occupation and persons with disabilities
  • Indicator 8.5.2: Unemployment rate, by sex, age and persons with disabilities

Only a couple dozen countries have data for employees’ average hourly earnings. The highest among them was Switzerland. By sex, the greatest difference was in South Korea, where the average hourly earnings of male employees of $23.96 and $15.91 for women.

The global unemployment rate as of 2022 was 5.3%, with gender differences only a fractional difference.

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SDG - SDG Target #8.4
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06/11/24 • -1 min

SDG #8 is to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Within SDG #8 are 12 targets, of which we here focus on Target 8.4:

Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, in accordance with the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, with developed countries taking the lead

Target 8.4 has two indicators:

  • Indicator 8.4.1: Material Footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP
  • Indicator 8.4.2: Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP

Material footprint is a measure of the tonnage of natural resources extracted from the Earth. This includes metal ores, fossil fuels, minerals or living matter from plants and animals. Many of these are finite and non-renewable resources.

By contrast, the concept of domestic material consumption is a measure of materials used within a country’s economy.

It’s important we understand that the economy, which is the basis upon which we all prosper, itself rests upon an environment foundation. This begs the question how is the environment to cope as we live on a planet with a spiking increase in resource use? What is the pathway out of this pattern, to unlink economic growth from scarce resource use and extraction?

The world’s material footprint per capita was 12.44t as of 2019, the same figure as 2015. Thus, there has been no improvement on this indicator, as the target has asked of us. Indicator 8.4.1 asked us to measure by GDP as well as per capita. The world’s material footprint in 2019 was 1.14kg per US dollar, with not much of a change since 2015.

The domestic material consumption per capita for the world was 12 tonnes as of 2019, about the same since 2015. The target asked for developed countries to take the lead. As a proxy, we can use Europe and Northern America. This region had 18t of domestic material consumption in 2019, which has also remained the same since the start of the SDGs.

The global domestic material consumption is equal to 1.13kg per dollar. Once more, this is little changed from 2015, with a similar trend for Europe and Northern America.

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SDG - SDG Target #8.3
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06/11/24 • -1 min

SDG #8 is to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Within SDG #8 are 12 targets, of which we here focus on Target 8.3:

Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services

Target 8.3 has one indicator:

  • Indicator 8.3.1: Proportion of informal employment in total employment, by sector and sex

Of the countries with data, many of the Least Developed Countries had greater than 80% of workers in non-agricultural informal work. The numbers are also high in the very populous countries India and Bangladesh, with 80% and 91% of workers in the informal sector.

Much fewer countries have data for informal employment in the agriculture sector. This includes many of the countries with highest proportions of informality in non-agriculture. Developing countries with 2022 data had between 80-100% informal employment in agriculture.

The country with the greatest gender imbalance in the non-agricultural sector was Cote d'Ivoire. There, 79% of men were in informal employment and 93% of females. In agriculture, the biggest gender disparities among countries with data were in Europe. 31% of Serbian males compared to 68% of women were in informal employment, and 42% of males and 78% of women in Poland.

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SDG - SDG Target #8.2
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06/11/24 • -1 min

SDG #8 is to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Within SDG #8 are 12 targets, of which we here focus on Target 8.1:

Sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances and, in particular, at least 7 per cent gross domestic product growth per annum in the least developed countries

Target 8.1 has one indicator:

  • Indicator 8.1.1: Annual growth rate of real GDP per capita

This target and indicator ask for us to aim for an increase of GDP, but also to keep pace with price rises from inflation, but also population growth. If GDP rises 7%, but so does the population growth, the actual rise in GDP cancels out. Likewise, if the GDP rises 7% but the inflation rate is 4%, then the GDP growth is only 3%.

The per capita annual growth rate for the world economy in 2022 was 2.28%, an increase from 1.86% in 2015, the year of the SDGs adoption. In the years following 2015, there was a dip in 2016 to 1.60%, followed by an increase in 2017, a tiny dip in 2018, a drop in 2019 to 1.51%, then a big drop in 2020 to -4.03%. 2021 saw a 5.31% rise, before an almost halving in 2022.

In 2022, the only Least Developed Countries with GDP growth rates above 7% was Niger with 7.43%

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SDG - SDG Target #8.1
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06/11/24 • -1 min

SDG #8 is to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Within SDG #8 are 12 targets, of which we here focus on Target 8.1:

Sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances and, in particular, at least 7 per cent gross domestic product growth per annum in the least developed countries

Target 8.1 has one indicator:

  • Indicator 8.1.1: Annual growth rate of real GDP per capita

This target and indicator ask for us to aim for an increase of GDP, but also to keep pace with price rises from inflation, but also population growth. If GDP rises 7%, but so does the population growth, the actual rise in GDP cancels out. Likewise, if the GDP rises 7% but the inflation rate is 4%, then the GDP growth is only 3%.

The per capita annual growth rate for the world economy in 2022 was 2.28%, an increase from 1.86% in 2015, the year of the SDGs adoption. In the years following 2015, there was a dip in 2016 to 1.60%, followed by an increase in 2017, a tiny dip in 2018, a drop in 2019 to 1.51%, then a big drop in 2020 to -4.03%. 2021 saw a 5.31% rise, before an almost halving in 2022.

In 2022, the only Least Developed Countries with GDP growth rates above 7% was Niger with 7.43%

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SDG - SDG Target #7.b
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06/11/24 • -1 min

SDG #7 is to “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”

Within SDG #7 are 5 targets, of which we here focus on Target 7.b:

By 2030, expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and landlocked developing countries, in accordance with their respective programmes of support

Target 7.b has one indicator:

  • Indicator 7.b.1: Installed renewable energy-generating capacity in developing and developed countries (in watts per capita)

The least developed countries face the prospects of the largest growth in population in the years to come. The existing dearth of energy for these countries takes on a double importance for their eventual access to be renewable. What if it's not, and such energy access comes from fossil fuels? The fight against climate change would be all but lost to accommodate the increase in living standards. This isn’t fair, to deprive such developing countries from access, thus its vital access comes via renewable energy

Th global capacity of renewable energy as of 2021 was 268 watts per capita, an increase from 154 watts per capita in 2015. In the Least Developed Countries in 2021, it was 39 watts per capita, up from 28 watts in 2015. In the Small Island Developing States, renewable energy capacity was 89 watts per capita in 2021, up from 55 watts in 2015.

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SDG - SDG Target #7.a
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06/11/24 • -1 min

SDG #7 is to “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”

Within SDG #7 are 5 targets, of which we here focus on Target 7.a:

By 2030, enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology

Target 7.a has one indicator:

  • Indicator 7.a.1: International financial flows to developing countries in support of clean energy research and development and renewable energy production, including in hybrid systems

The International Renewable Energy Agency tracks financing of aid for renewable energy.

In 2021, OECD country donors gave $10 billion as foreign aid intended for clean energy. Not only is this amount down from the 2017 peak of $27 billion, it’s also a decrease from the 2015 amount of $12 billion. It’s thus not on track to “enhance international cooperation” in the form of aid for renewable energy, as this target asks of us.

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SDG - SDG Target #7.3
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06/11/24 • -1 min

SDG #7 is to “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”

Within SDG #7 are 5 targets, of which we here focus on Target 7.3:

By 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency

Target 7.3 has one indicator:

  • Indicator 7.3.1: Energy intensity measured in terms of primary energy and GDP

The global energy intensity in 2020 was $4.54 of economic value produced per megajoule of energy used. This was down a little from the figure at the adoption of the SDGs in 2015 of $4.83 per megajoule. But it's still far from the doubling of improvement required for this target, which would be a halving of the energy intensity.

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SDG - SDG Target #7.2
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06/11/24 • -1 min

SDG #7 is to “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”

Within SDG #7 are 5 targets, of which we here focus on Target 7.2:

By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services

Target 7.2 has one indicator:

  • Indicator 7.2.1: Renewable energy share in the total final energy consumption

The renewable energy share in final energy consumption worldwide is 19% using 2020 data, far from this target’s aim of universal access to move away from the emission of carbon dioxide.

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SDG - SDG Target #8.6
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06/11/24 • -1 min

SDG #8 is to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Within SDG #8 are 12 targets, of which we here focus on Target 8.6:

By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training

Target 8.6 has one indicator:

  • Indicator 8.6.1: Proportion of youth (aged 15–24 years) not in education, employment or training

There aren’t yet any global figures for the proportion of youth not in education, employment, or training. Of those countries with data for this indicator, Niger and Afghanistan are the worst-performing, with 68% and 62%. Rather than the proportion reducing, in both countries it’s rise since 2014: in Niger from 25% and Afghanistan from 35%. The Netherlands is the leader with 2%, having reduced from 4.7% in 2014.

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FAQ

How many episodes does SDG have?

SDG currently has 121 episodes available.

What topics does SDG cover?

The podcast is about Podcasts and Government.

What is the most popular episode on SDG?

The episode title 'SDG Target #2.2' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on SDG?

The average episode length on SDG is 33 minutes.

When was the first episode of SDG?

The first episode of SDG was released on Jun 13, 2021.

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