Why the SDGs alone aren’t enough

There is a new metric when it comes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: the ‘spillover effects’ of each country on the world at large. These spillover effects include pollution, financial secrecy, and contribution to peace abroad. Since these effects are accounted for outside of a country’s borders, they are not represented by national statistics. A country might rank very highly when judged only by its own statistics (such as the US and Switzerland), but this is a lopsided view when looked at in a global context.

The US falls to #42 when spillover effects are incorporated, which is a particularly low score relative to the country’s wealth and status as one of the G20 countries. It is #7 in the world for exporting weapons. Canada ranks #17 with the spillover effects accounted for.