SDG Indicators

UNEP’s mandate

UNEP is the custodian for 27 Sustainable Development Goals indicators – across Goals 6, 8, 12, 14, 15 and 17. For these, UNEP has the duty to work with Member States to develop data collection methodologies; work with national statistical authorities to collect Sustainable Development Goals data; and promote the use of data for analysis, including in the global Sustainable Development Goals progress report. This mandate is elaborated in the 2019 UN Statistical Commission report (E/CN.3/2019/2), “Custodian agencies, international and supranational statistical agencies have accountability for the quality and accuracy of global reporting on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals”. For the methodologies under UNEP custodianship, each methodology was developed through a consultative process (for more information go to the pages for specific indicators). As of March 2020, all 27 methodologies have been agreed by the UN Statistical Commission.

The SDG indicators and sub-indicators that UNEP is the custodian for include three types of data: (1) data collected from national statistical systems); (2) globally estimated or modelled data; and (3) mixed data which is estimated globally but replaced with country data when available. The focal points for all UNEP indicators are provided by UNEP to UNSD for inclusion on the global SDG focal point list. A list of internal focal points within UNEP is available here. All methodologies and metadata are also available online at https://uneplive.unep.org/statistics, but the below pages include additional information and details.