The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were designed to reconcile environmental protection with socioeconomic development. This study has compared SDG indicators to a suite of external measures, showing that while most countries are progressing well towards environmental SDGs, this has little relationship with actual biodiversity conservation, and instead better represents socioeconomic development. If this continues, the SDGs will likely serve as a smokescreen for further environmental destruction throughout the decade.
Environmental destruction not avoided with the Sustainable Development Goals