Reports

According to Ban Ki-moon, The World water Development Report 2015, coordinated by UNESCO’s World water Assessment Programme, brings together 31 UN- Water Members and 37 Partners, and offers data and information aimed at policy and decision makers, inside and outside the water sector. The report illustrates the complex linkages between water and critical areas such as human health, food and energy security, urbanization, industrial growth and climate change.

This report has been compiled by a team from the Earth Institute at Columbia University in collaboration with Ericsson, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the GSMA. A variety of multidisciplinary experts in the academic and private sectors have contributed insights in order to gain a thorough and rich understanding of the impacts of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on achieving various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This document is an output of Overseas Development Institute, which proposes a framework to make the Post-2015 agenda actionable. The report envisages that much more thought needs to be given to the process of target-setting, different actors’ responsibilities, implementation and accountability to ensure the relevance and applicability of a universal agenda to all countries.

The Millennium Development Goals have led to tangible progress in many developing countries. Once adopted, the United Nations' new global Sustainable Development Goals will additionally require industrialized countries to implement such standards beginning in 2016. Moreover, this report shows that most industrialized nations are a long way from serving as role models for sustainable development. 

This report is the result of over 18 months of consultative work led by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) with the contributions of nearly 500 organizations and thousands of individuals. The SDSN Thematic Groups, a large number of UN agencies and other international institutions, national statistical offices, civil society organizations, academia, and businesses have provided expert input in preparing the indicator framework.

The report is the work of the UN Secretary-General’s Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development. The group consisting of over 20 international experts was asked by the UN Secretary General to propose ways to improve data for achieving and monitoring sustainable development.

The SDGs offer a "major improvement" over their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, this report by the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the International Social Science Council (ISSC) finds that of the 169 targets beneath the 17 draft goals, just 29% are well defined and based on the latest scientific evidence, while 54% need more work and 17% are weak or non-essential.

This report, The impact of climate change on the achievement of the post-2015 sustainable development goals, considers impacts on development over the next 15 years, under two scenarios for the 2015 climate change agreement: a high-ambition agreement and a low-ambition agreement. It looks at associated policies and levels of investment in mitigation and adaptation. The high-ambition scenario used is based on the UNFCCC aim to limit global warming to a 2°C increase on pre-industrial temperatures.

The 2015 Global Sustainable Development Report was launched in June 2015 and contributed to the 2015 session of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development.

On 4 December, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon informally presented an advance, unedited version of his synthesis report on the post-2015 development agenda to UN Member States. The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet, outlined a vision for Member States to consider carrying forward in negotiations leading up to the UN Special Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2015.