Sustainable Development Goals for Sweden

This research paper by the Stockholm Environment Institute explores the process of translating the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into a national agenda for Sweden. Through a screening of 169 targets, the authors argue that the SDGs are universally applicable and require significant domestic policy changes even in high-income countries. The paper identifies key challenges in target interpretation, such as ambiguous wording and the need for political judgment, and recommends a government-led, cross-sectoral approach to implementation to ensure the SDGs become a real policy agenda rather than a mere reporting exercise.

• A rapid screening of 107 SDG targets (excluding means of implementation) revealed that 81 targets—approximately 76%—are relevant to Sweden's domestic context and would require work to achieve by 2030.
• The authors identified six critical goal areas for Sweden's domestic 2030 agenda: Goal 4 (Education), Goal 8 (Economic Growth and Decent Work), Goal 10 (Reduced Inequality), Goal 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production), Goal 13 (Climate Action), and Goal 14 (Life Below Water).
• Sweden faces specific challenges in education, where PISA scores for mathematics, reading, and science are declining and have fallen below OECD averages.
• While Sweden is one of the most income-equal OECD countries, it experienced the largest increase in inequality among all OECD countries between 1985 and 2010, with income growth slowing for those earning less than 60% of the median income since the mid-1990s.
• Sweden's environmental performance shows a gap between domestic and global impacts; while domestic GHG emissions have decreased by 22% since 1990, emissions 'embedded' in goods and services consumed in Sweden have increased since the early 1990s.
• The Baltic Sea remains a critical area of concern, as emissions of phosphorus and nitrogen from agriculture, industry, and wastewater have reduced, but levels in the sea are not yet decreasing.
• Interpreting the SDGs for national use is complicated by 'zero visions' (targets calling for the total elimination of a condition), ambiguous qualitative terms (e.g., 'sustainable' or 'effective'), and issues of scale where global targets provide little guidance for national action.
• The authors argue that national implementation should be led by the government—specifically the Office of the Prime Minister—and integrated into existing structures rather than being confined to marginal National Sustainable Development Strategies (NSDS).
• The paper recommends prioritizing national indicators over global ones, as global indicators may not accurately identify the specific actions required for a country to make progress toward sustainability.
• Sweden's performance on Official Development Assistance (ODA) is a strong point, with a national target of 1.0% of GNI, which exceeds the SDG target of 0.7%.

APA

Tenggren'], [. W. '. P. '. N. '. (2015). Sustainable Development Goals for Sweden. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-WP-2015-10-SDG-Sweden.pdf

Chicago

Tenggren'], ['Nina Weitz', 'Åsa Persson', 'Måns Nilsson', 'Sandra. Sustainable Development Goals for Sweden. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2015. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-WP-2015-10-SDG-Sweden.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Tenggren'] |first1=['Nina Weitz', 'Åsa Persson', 'Måns Nilsson', 'Sandra |title=Sustainable Development Goals for Sweden |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=September 2015 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-WP-2015-10-SDG-Sweden.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{tenggren2015sustainable, author = {Tenggren'], ['Nina Weitz', 'Åsa Persson', 'Måns Nilsson', 'Sandra}, title = {{Sustainable Development Goals for Sweden}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2015}, month = sep, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-WP-2015-10-SDG-Sweden.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }