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12 December 2023

M&G’s UN SDG Reckoning Report: time to get back on track

2023
  • The 2030 target deadline for the SDGs is not on track to be met

  • Findings show small improvements but the majority of SDGs have stalled over the past 12 months

  • The report highlights three SDG-related challenges where investors could drive real positive change: tackling waste, climate and nature solutions, and gender equality

London, 12 December 2023 – The findings of M&G’s fourth SDG Reckoning Report reinforce the huge challenge that lies ahead to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the 169 underlying targets by their 2030 deadline, set by the United Nations’ General Assembly.

The report reveals that only No Poverty (SDG1) and Climate Action (SDG13) have improved their scores, due to the reduction in people living in extreme poverty and the OECD’s estimate that the UN’s $100 billion annual climate finance target was finally met in 20221. Meanwhile, progress for Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG12) and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG16) have backtracked. Insufficient action to decarbonise global energy, declining circularity and deteriorating global prospects of peace are the main factors stifling progress. The remaining SDGs have all stalled in the past 12 months.

This year’s report focuses on three SDG-related topics where investors have the opportunity to drive positive change:

  • Tackling waste and shifting to a circular economy: Currently only 7% of materials across the globe are reused or recycled, while 93% of resources are wasted, lost or unavailable for reuse. The need to shift away from the ‘take-make-waste’ to a ‘reduce-reuse-recycle’ model is critical.
  • Climate change and nature loss: These two interconnecting ‘planetary crises’ threaten human wellbeing, the stability of the global economy and the sustainable functioning of the planet. Evidence is mounting that tackling one without the other risks failing to achieve the necessary outcomes for both.
  • Challenging gender inequality: While there has been some progress, we are on track to achieve only 15% of indicators for Gender Equality (SDG5) by 2030. At the current rate of advancement, closing the global gender gap is projected to take a further 131 years2.

Lead author of the report, Ben Constable-Maxwell, Head of Impact Investing at M&G Investments, comments: “Our fourth annual SDG Reckoning Report again finds that the world’s ambition to deliver the UN’s Sustainable Development agenda is not being matched by appropriate actions. Despite pockets of progress, achieving the 2030 targets will require ambitious and concerted action from all stakeholders. We are halfway towards the deadline and with COP28 underway now is the time to get back on track with strong and decisive action to tackle the world’s major sustainability and development challenges. Investors have a significant role to play in driving capital towards achieving the Goals and in holding businesses to account to ensure real change is realised.”

The chart below outlines the score for each of the 17 UN SDGs and the progress made towards achieving each goal. The full report can be found here.

SDG Chart
 

Media enquiries

Marta Giovinazzo

M&G Media Relations

Rebecca Grundy

Media Relations

Notes to editors

1 Source: ‘Growth accelerated in the climate finance provided and mobilised in 2021 but developed countries remain short and must continue scaling up to reach the USD 100 billion goal’ – OECD (link)
2 Source: World Economic Forum, ‘Global Gender Gap Report 2023’, (weforum.org), June 2023.

M&G Investments is part of M&G plc, a savings and investment business which was formed in 2017 through the merger of Prudential plc’s UK and Europe savings and insurance operation and M&G, its wholly owned international investment manager. M&G plc listed as an independent company on the London Stock Exchange in October 2019 and has €387.8 billion of assets under management (as of 30 June 2023). M&G plc has over 5 million customers in the UK, Europe, the Americas and Asia, including individual savers and investors, life insurance policy holders and pension scheme members.


For nearly nine decades M&G Investments has been helping its customers to prosper by putting investments to work, which in turn creates jobs, homes and vital infrastructure in the real economy. Its investment solutions span equities, fixed income, multi asset, cash, private debt, infrastructure and real estate.


M&G recognises the importance of responsible investing and is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) and is a member of the Climate Bonds Initiative Partners Programme.


M&G plc has committed to achieve net zero carbon emissions on its total book of assets under management and administration by 2050 and committed to reduce operational carbon emissions as a corporate entity to net zero by 2030.

For more information, please visit: www.mandg.com 

 

This information is intended for journalists and media professionals only. It should not be relied upon by private investors or advisers.

In the UK, issued by M&G Securities Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and provides investment products. The company’s registered office is 10 Fenchurch Avenue, London EC3M 5AG. Registered in England and Wales. Registered number 90776.

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M&G plc, incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Registered office: 10 Fenchurch Avenue, London EC3M 5AG. Registered number 11444019. M&G plc is a holding company, some of whose subsidiaries are authorised and regulated, as applicable, by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.

M&G plc is a company incorporated and with its principal place of business in England, and its affiliated companies constitute a leading savings and investments business. M&G plc is the direct parent company of The Prudential Assurance Company Limited. The Prudential Assurance Company Limited is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential Financial, Inc, a company whose principal place of business is in the United States of America or Prudential plc, an international group incorporated in England and Wales.

M&G plc は、イングランド及びウェールズで設立・登録。本社登録地は10 Fenchurch Avenue, London EC3M 5AG。登録番号11444019。M&G plcは持ち株会社で、その子会社の一部はPRA(健全性監督機構)及びFCA(金融行為規制機構) に認可され、それらの規制対象となっています。

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M&G plc, incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Registered office: 10 Fenchurch Avenue, London EC3M 5AG. Registered number 11444019. M&G plc is a holding company, some of whose subsidiaries are authorised and regulated, as applicable, by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.

M&G plc is a company incorporated and with its principal place of business in England, and its affiliated companies constitute a leading savings and investments business. M&G plc is the direct parent company of The Prudential Assurance Company Limited. The Prudential Assurance Company Limited is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential Financial, Inc, a company whose principal place of business is in the United States of America or Prudential plc, an international group incorporated in England and Wales.