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The transformational prospects of the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are doubtless. Nonetheless, finding the appropriate implementation mechanisms to accomplish these goals and their targets and deliver on the promise of Agenda 2030 is proving challenging. Using publicly available documentary evidence from Voluntary National Reviews and Sustainable Development Reports, we analysed the progress of environmental SDG implementation in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey) countries. The findings reveal an overall implementation progress level of 64% and 62% in BRICS and MINT, respectively. Relatively, countries in BRICS outperformed their MINT counterparts in five of the six environmental SDGs analysed. Our assessment broadly notes a promising engagement with environmental SDGs in these blocs, albeit with limited progress, and the presence of impressionistic practices in reportage of successes compared with challenges. We highlight the critical environmental goals and areas for practical actions to accomplish Agenda 2030 moving forward. The study specifically draws the attention of policymakers to issues of climate action (SDG13) and affordable and clean energy (SDG7), where immediate actions are needed to ramp up environmental actions. Given the limited time left to accomplish Agenda 2030, the findings of this study provide timely insight into the environmental SDGs that are at risk of failure in these developing countries. The study significantly implicates developing countries' ability to achieve Agenda 2030 and provides practical and actionable policy measures that are urgently needed to address the situation.

The Whole Institution Approach is part of UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development program. This chapter explores what a “Whole Institution Approach” is and what it translates to in different higher education institutions around the world. This chapter provides background information to understand the complexity of sustainable development in higher education and how universities engage with the United Nations Agenda 2030. This chapter is based on an autumn 2018 International Association of Universities qualitative study, which looked at how the sustainable development goals (SDGs) are changing the dynamics of universities. To illustrate the findings, this chapter presents five case studies highlighting different approaches to integrating sustainable development into the whole institution. This chapter shows that there is no one-size-fits-all approach; each university engages with sustainable development and the SDGs in its own way. Finally, this chapter explains what the 2030 Agenda can mean for higher education institutions and more specifically Whole Institution Approaches.

Environmental sustainability is one of humanity's most daunting issues and continues to garner attention from researchers and policymakers. The substantial corpus of work on sustainability has focused on broader sustainable development goals (SDGs), with occasional discourse on the progress of environmental issues within the SDGs. In this issue, we draw precise attention to environmental SDGs and their implementation progress at country and company level, underscoring the actions required to accomplish Agenda 2030. The contributions to this special issue provide incremental knowledge of the state of progress made towards accomplishing Agenda 2030, as well as advance our understanding of corporate environmental research particularly in developing countries. We report a concise viewpoint of the chapters featured in this special issue of Advances in Environmental Accounting and Management on the progress and prospects of environmental sustainability and Agenda 2030. Our review and summary highlights crucial findings from each contribution, the implications of such findings for policymakers, and areas for immediate and future actions pertinent for the accomplishment of the Agenda. The overarching outcome from the chapters featured in the special issue suggests a positive change in the appetite for sustainable practices at both country and company level. Yet, the practicality and approach to attain the goals set by United Nations Agenda 2030 is still a distance away. We believe insights from chapters in this issue would provide pragmatic support to managers and governments in developing and implementing strategic actions to confront the growing yet emerging state of environmental SDGs accomplishment at country and company levels.

While the world is yet to fully recuperate from the social and economic repercussions of COVID-19, the Russia–Ukraine conflict poses another major threat causing a humanitarian crisis and economic shock. Although the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its pledge to “leave no one behind” is a universal commitment to protect the livelihoods of vulnerable groups, the Russia–Ukraine ongoing conflict is causing immense suffering and a gloomy future for the 2030 Agenda. The purpose of this study is to provide a holistic understanding of the ramifications of the Russia–Ukraine war in SDGs progress around the world. Further, the authors shed light on how stakeholders can help engage in support of SDGs in such a challenging time.

This study is qualitative in nature and relies on secondary sources. The motive behind this study is to allow social and economic policy researchers and practitioners to learn from the Russia–Ukraine dispute. The authors conduct a preliminary factual analysis to determine patterns of how the conflict affects the SDGs Agenda. On this basis, the authors propose some recommendations.

While it is still early to measure the full impact of the war on crises worldwide, it is clear that the repercussions will be multi-dimensional. The authors argue that the conflict in Ukraine is severely threatening the achievement of the SDGs. As such, the authors identify patterns of this crisis that have halted progress on SDGs worldwide. Of all SDGs, the authors argue that SDG16 (i.e. peace and justice) is an absolute pre-requisite to sustaining other goals. Further, refugees should be economically empowered, resilient and sustainable food systems need to be put in place and renewable energy transition is required.

This study serves as a springboard for future research by identifying patterns of war crises that have halted progress in achieving sustainable development worldwide. Empirical evidence needs to be conducted on the impact of this ongoing conflict on sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda.

This study could provide guidance to leaders and stakeholders across the globe on patterns for the impact of the Ukraine–Russia conflict on undermining global sustainable development while highlighting the need for major additional efforts to achieve the relevant SDGs.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to analyse the threats the Russia–Ukraine dispute presents to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for SDGs.

The 2030 Agenda and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) constitute a new global roadmap for all institutions and sectors of society. Therefore, thanks to the initiative of Club of Córdoba for the Unesco (CUCO), a nonprofit association, in collaboration with the University of Cordoba, the need to create a tool for heritage management has been identified to guide personnel responsible for cultural heritage resources in the implementation of SDGs. The goal of this universal guide is to raise awareness of the importance of cultural heritage resources being aligned with the 2030 Agenda and provide the keys to apply the SDGs in the day-to-day activities of the different institutions. This publication is part of the proyect of the Junta de Andalucía “The Guide to Action on a Heritage Resource on the SDGs” (GARPODS).

SDG Compass is a powerful tool for the application of the SDGs in the business field and therefore has been considered appropriate to create a guide for cultural heritage resources based on it. To this end, we have held meetings with experts in the heritage field (directors and managers of different heritage resources in the province of Córdoba) both individually and collectively. Surveys have also been carried out on different interest groups (managers, employees, suppliers, visitors) which in turn have made it possible to provide an interdisciplinary nature to the sample and the results.

With the completion of this work, it has been proven that cultural heritage resource managers lack the necessary knowledge and resources to implement the SDGs in their management. Therefore, the proposed guide will be a practical tool that will allow all heritage resources to incorporate the SDGs into their management.

The tool proposed in this work, although it based on the SDG Compass methodology, aims to go beyond the business sphere and adapt to heritage resources so that they can apply the SDGs in their management. This work is ongoing and the full guide will be presented in February 2024.

Universities play an important role in the promotion and implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This study aims to examine the visibility of information about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the websites of Spanish and major international universities, by means of a quantitative and qualitative analysis with an online visibility management platform that makes use of big data technology.

The Web visibility of the universities studied in relation to the terms “SDG”, “Sustainable Development Goals” and “2030 Agenda” was determined using the SEMrush tool. Information was obtained on the number of web pages accessed and the queries formulated (query expansion). The content indexed by Google for these universities was compiled, and finally, the search engine optimization (SEO) factors applicable to the websites with the highest Web visibility were identified.

The universities analysed are content creators but do not have very high Web visibility in Web searches for information on the SDGs. Of the 98 universities analysed, only four feature prominently in search results.

Although research exists on the application of SEO to different areas, there have not, to date, been any studies examining the Web visibility of universities in relation to Web searches for information on the 2030 Agenda. The main contributions of this study are the global perspective it provides on the Web visibility of content produced by universities about the SDGs and the recommendations it offers for improving that visibility.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how sustainability was operationalized in the Spanish universities through plans and actions that contribute actively to the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

A systematic search and content analysis served to examine information available on websites belonging to the 76 universities listed in the Conference of Rectors of the Spanish Universities (CRUE).

The participation of Spanish universities on initiatives focused on sustainability is very limited, highlighting the negligible role of private institutions in which topics like sustainability and the 2030 Agenda/SDGs were scarcely addressed.

The study outlines the actual extent of the inclusion of sustainability in particular co-curricular actions toward the SDGs in the CRUE. The findings enable to define a long-term sustainability road map for the Spanish university system.

This study aims to assess progress toward achieving international (United Nations’) goals and targets for attaining sustainable development and discuss the risks of worldwide failure.

The authors highlight the relationship between global goals/targets and governance, relate this to the concept of sustainable development, outline and compare Millennium Development Goals and their successors, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and lastly view SDG implementation from two major spaces i.e. the governance and science space, respectively.

Governance and culture as new components of sustainable development may be sine qua non for humanity’s transformative action toward global and just sustainable development. Through fostering informed decision and policymaking, modern science, as sketched in this contribution, should provide the framework for realizing Agenda 2030. Earth System Science and its innovative notions such as the Anthropocene, planetary boundaries, tipping points and tipping elements will be key in the process of “designing” blank a sustainable future of and for Homo sapiens.

This essay proposes developing holistic approaches to cooperate at all levels in urgent efforts to meet goals projected for 2030 and 2050. The complexity and functioning of the governance space, comprising a system of governance systems, is illustrated not only in the diversity of the institutional landscape but in particular through the blurring of all scales – local to global.

The purpose of this study is to contrast the capacity of tourism-specialized and non-tourism-specialized systems in small developing insular societies to achieve a well-being model aligned with the Agenda 2030.

The empirical method of this work consists of a panel-corrected standard errors analysis for a total of seven Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to measure the contribution of both economic diversification and tourism specialization to well-being in the Agenda 2030 framework. Time period considered in the analysis include 2005–2019.

Linear and nonlinear relationships reveal the need to conjugate both tourism specialization and economic diversification in the 2030-development agendas of small developing insular societies as both represent a means to achieve a well-being model aligned with the Agenda 2030.

One of the main novelties of this work is that development is analyzed from a multidimensional point of view (standard of living, access to education and health services), as an integrated thinking that considers any tourism development model that defines a route with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2030 as main destination in SIDS. Specifically, practical implications are given combining recommendations to foster development and face poverty (SDG-1), while inequalities situations are reduced (SDG-10) and decent jobs are generated (SDG-8). These implications also focus on strengthening local suppliers of goods and services from other sectors to be integrated into the destination value chain (SDG-2), ensuring access to education (SDG-4) and contributing to gender equality (SDG-5).

这项工作的实证方法包括对7个加勒比海小岛屿发展中国家进行面板校正标准误差（PCSE）分析, 以衡量经济多样化和旅游专业化对2030年议程框架中的福祉的贡献。分析中考虑的时间段包括2005–2019年。

这项工作的目的是对比小型发展中岛国社会的旅游专业系统和非旅游专业系统的能力, 以实现与2030年议程相一致的福祉模式。

线性和非线性关系表明, 在发展中小岛国社会的2030年发展议程中, 需要将旅游专业化和经济多样化结合起来, 因为两者都是实现与2030年议程一致的福祉模式的手段。

这项工作的主要创新点之一是, 从多维的角度（生活水平、受教育机会和健康服务）来分析发展, 作为一种综合思维, 考虑任何旅游发展模式, 确定了一条以可持续发展目标和2030年议程为主要目的地的小岛屿发展中国家路线。具体来说, 在减少不平等状况（SDG-10）和创造体面工作（SDG-8）的同时, 结合促进发展和面对贫困（SDG-1）的建议, 给出了实际意义。此外, 要加强其他部门的货物和服务的当地供应商, 以融入目的地价值链（SDG-2）, 保证受教育的机会（SDG-4）和促进性别平等（SDG-5）。

El método empírico de este trabajo consiste en un análisis de errores estándar corregidos por panel (PCSE) para 7 Pequeños Estados Insulares en Desarrollo para medir la contribución al bienestar a través de la especialización turística y la diversificación económica en el marco de la Agenda 2030. El horizonte contemplado en el análisis incluye 2005–2019.

El objetivo de este trabajo es contrastar la capacidad de los sistemas especializados y no especializados en turismo dentro de las pequeñas sociedades insulares en desarrollo para lograr un modelo de bienestar alineado con la Agenda 2030.

Las relaciones lineales y no lineales revelan la necesidad de conjugar tanto la especialización turística como la diversificación económica en las agendas de desarrollo 2030 de las pequeñas sociedades insulares en desarrollo, ya que ambas representan un medio para alcanzar un modelo de bienestar alineado con la Agenda 2030.

Una de las principales novedades de este trabajo es que se analiza el desarrollo desde un punto de vista multidimensional (nivel de vida, acceso a la educación y servicios de salud), como un pensamiento integrado que considera cualquier modelo de desarrollo turístico que defina una ruta con los ODS y la Agenda 2030 como destino principal en los PEID. En concreto, se ofrecen implicaciones prácticas que combinan recomendaciones para fomentar el desarrollo y hacer frente a la pobreza (ODS-1), al tiempo que se reducen las situaciones de desigualdad (ODS-10) y se generan empleos decentes (ODS-8). Asimismo, fortalecer a los proveedores locales de bienes y servicios de otros sectores para que se integren en la cadena de valor del destino (ODS-2), garantizar el acceso a la educación (ODS-4) y contribuir a la igualdad de género (ODS-5).

This paper aims to analyze how Colombian Universities have incorporated the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development goals (SDGs) into their missions and visions.

The study used a documentary design to analyze the content of the missions and visions of the 86 Colombian Universities registered with the Ministry of National Education (MEN).

The study shows that universities are primarily aligned with Goal 13 as follows: climate action and this alignment is carried out to a great extent by the university’s governance, culture and activities. In contrast, there was a predominance of intentions to address the social dimension of sustainable development (SD).

The study focused on examining universities’ missions and visions, which leaves out other sources of information that could account for university practices linked to the SDGs and sustainability.

The study’s results reveal the degree to which the universities are aligned with the SDGs in Colombia, which serves as a basis for the formulation of guidelines by the MEN and other organizations to strengthen the processes that contribute to the 2030 Agenda.

Research on how universities align with the SDGs is not a new topic, but it is scarce in the Colombian context. This research contributes to this gap by addressing the topic from a holistic and comparative perspective of SD education.