The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, sets forth the global vision to 2030. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which provide the benchmarks that should be achieved by 2030 in order to leave no one behind. A robust follow-up and review mechanism for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda requires a solid framework of indicators and statistical data to monitor progress, inform policy and ensure accountability of all stakeholders at the global and national level. The global indicator framework consisting of 169 targets and 242 indicators was adopted by the General Assembly in 2017. At the national level, the 2030 Agenda encourages member states to conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and sub-national levels which are country-led and country-driven. The United Nations Statistics Division is working closely with national actors as well as international partners to build capacity in countries for reporting on the SDG indicators.

Environmental SDG indicators

This e-learning course is a self-paced course with individual 10 modules developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (UNSIAP) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). This course provides an overview of the importance of monitoring the environmental dimension of development, the linkage with existing statistical frameworks (FDES and SEEA) and how to use environment statistics in decision making. The modules will also provide a brief overview on all 25 SDG indicators under UNEP custodianship.

In particular, this e-learning course aims to build the capacity of countries – representatives of National Statistical Office (NSOs), Ministries of Environment and other stakeholders - to compile and use data on the environment-related SDGs for evidence-based decision-making and to promote cross-cutting data analysis to better understand the environmental dimension of development.


Compiling Metadata for Sustainable Development Goals (English)

This course introduces the SDGs and the metadata that should be disseminated along with the SDG indicators.