Sustainable Development Goals: India Lagging in Achieving the Target

Sustainable Development Goals

India slipped 2 places to number 117 in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) rankings; with worse performance than Nepal and Bangladesh

What is EHS Sustainability?

Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) have been broadly defined to make it more effective in the Indian industrial environment. Now, it has come to be known as ESG, i.e., Environment, Sustainability and Governance. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the country are decided based on the better life of every citizen associated with them. India has failed to meet key challenges such as Ending Hunger and Achieving Food Security (SDG2), Gender Equality (SDG5), Creating Resilient Infrastructure, Promoting Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization, and Promoting Innovation (SDG9).

Current Situation of EHS in Industries in India

India is lagging in matters related to a better life. India has slipped 2 places to 117th in the latest rank of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by 193 countries of the United Nations. UN member states accepted these SDG-17 in 2015. The target has been set to meet these goals by 2030. India’s overall SDG score in 2021 was 61.9 out of 100. In this respect, India has also lagged behind countries like Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

CSE’s Report on EHS Sustainability in India

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released the Annual State of India’s Environment 2022, in the annual edition of Down to Earth in June 2022, highlighting India’s current status on the frontiers like environment, development and economy.

Economy

Target: To reach India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 4 trillion $ in the year 2022-2023.

GDP at constant prices refers to the amount of GDP obtained by expressing values in terms of the base period. It was 1.95 trillion $ in 2015 and reached 2.5 trillion $ by 2020. As the world’s fifth-largest economy, India’s GDP has reached 3.535 trillion $ today. Right now, we are running behind the target set.

Industry

Target: Doubling the growth rate of the manufacturing sector in 2022.

Manufacturing contributed 15.7% to the country’s GDP in the year 2015. In the year 2020, it had come down to 12.96 %. It has increased to near 15% at present but there is still a long way to go to reach the set target.

Technology and Innovation

Target: In the year 2022-2023, the target was set to include India in the top 50 countries of the world in the field of technology and innovation.

In 2014, India’s position in the Global Ranking of Technology and Innovation was 76 among the top 100 countries. At the same time, this situation improved and today India is included in the top 46 countries.

Energy

Target: In the year 2022, the country has set a target of 175 GW of power from renewable energy.

Under this target, 54% of 100 GW as Solar Energy, 67.3% of 60 GW as Wind Energy, 97% of 5 GW as Hydro Energy, and 106% of 10 GW as Biomass Gas have been achieved.

CSE’s report on EHS sustainability in India

Shows that India is not well-positioned toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and its efforts have declined over the years compared to other Asian countries. As per the Global Sustainable Development Report-2022, India’s ranking has also declined for the third consecutive year and has come down to 121 as the country has failed to achieve 11 out of 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Of these, progress has been made on about 10 targets, including Ending Hunger (SDG-2), Good Health and Well-being (SDG-3), and Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG-6).

India has announced that these targets will be achieved by the year 2030. Over the past decade, many companies have developed corporate sustainability programs, focusing on addressing challenges such as energy and water use, greenhouse gas emissions, labour conditions, and product sourcing to achieve these goals. Efforts are on at every level of Public-Private Partnership to achieve these goals.

To sum up, we can say that India has a long road ahead in achieving its goals. In such a situation, every institution should increase its investment in ESG and work towards increasing awareness regarding the same. ASK-EHS has been providing its Safety training services in the field of ESG for over 15 years and is one of the leading consultancies in the country focused on helping organizations achieve their health and safety goals.

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