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U.S. Cities and the SDGs — Less than Halfway There

By humanrightsathome

Last week, the Sustainable Develop Solutions Network (SDSN) released its most recent ranking of US cities’ progress in meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to the SDSN report, the average score for US cities is 48.9%, “which means that most US cities are not quite halfway towards achieving the SDGs.” 

The report uses 57 indicators to rank city performance on a range of sustainability topics, including early education (SDG 4), clean water (SDG 6), sustainable transit (SDG 11) and incarceration (SDG 16).

Cities are ranked using a scale from 0 to 100, with 100 representing the highest score. No city scored 100, while 101 cities scored a 0 on at least one indicator.

US cities have made the most overall progress on SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) and SDG 15 (life on land). They have made the least progress on SDG 2 (zero hunger) and SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy). 

San-Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California Metro Statistical Area (MSA) placed first on the index, with a score of 69.7.  Baton Rouge, Louisiana, scored the worst, with a score of 30.3.