Bottom-up Accountability for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Are subnational indicator systems aligned?

This briefing note evaluates the alignment of subnational indicator systems with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) using the Province of Manitoba as a test case. While thematic alignment is found in over 20% of provincial indicators, there is a significant structural gap: provincial systems rely almost exclusively on 'state' indicators, lacking the 'finance' and 'policy' indicators present in the SDG framework. The authors argue that aligning these systems is critical for aggregating subnational data into national progress reports.

• There is a significant difference in the typology of indicators used at the subnational level compared to the global SDG set. The Manitoba provincial indicator sets lack finance and policy indicators, focusing instead on state indicators and some management-type indicators. The authors suggest that the prevalence of state indicators in developed countries like Canada may be due to the availability of better data on actual changes in issue areas such as land-use change, forest cover, and water quality.
• Thematic alignment between the Manitoba provincial indicators and the SDGs is relatively strong, with 22 per cent of sustainable development indicators and 20 per cent of green economy indicators considered aligned or somewhat aligned. However, gaps remain, with no alignment identified for seven of the 19 thematic categories and six of the 17 SDGs.
• The analysis identifies specific gaps in subnational reporting that could be addressed to better align with SDGs, including indicators for Zero hunger (e.g., prevalence of undernourishment), Gender equality (e.g., proportion of women in managerial positions), Industry, innovation and infrastructure (e.g., CO2 emissions per unit of value added), and Climate action (e.g., integration of mitigation and adaptation into curricula).

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (n.d.). Bottom-up Accountability for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Are subnational indicator systems aligned? https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/bottom-up-accountability-sdgs-briefing-note.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Bottom-up Accountability for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Are subnational indicator systems aligned? n.d. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/bottom-up-accountability-sdgs-briefing-note.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Bottom-up Accountability for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Are subnational indicator systems aligned? |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/bottom-up-accountability-sdgs-briefing-note.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopmentndbottomup, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Bottom-up Accountability for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Are subnational indicator systems aligned?}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/bottom-up-accountability-sdgs-briefing-note.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }