Linking the UN SDGs and Sustainable Development Progress: The Case of China

This study examines China’s progress in sustainable development (SD) from 1990 to 2019 toward the 2030 Agenda and 2030 carbon peak target. Through extended factor analysis with principal component analysis, the sustainable development index (SDI), including each economy, society, and environment subclass SDI, was derived, and the contribution and weight of each Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to the SDI calculated. The main findings are: (a) A progressively improving SDI is derived, supporting the considerate achievement of China’s SD policies; (b) the SDI trend aligns with per capita GDP, implying that the state of economic development measured by per capita GDP well approximates the degree of SD; (c) most goals, especially those in the economy and society subclasses, show sustained improvement and contribute to the improvement of China’s SDI. However, it is still relatively fragile in the environment subclass and requires further strengthening. Therefore, China should continue strengthening ecological civilization construction to achieve the 2030 Agenda and 2030 carbon peak target.