Spatial variability of sustainable development goals in China: A provincial level evaluation

Abstract

In 2015, the United Nations 2030 agenda for sustainable development presented seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs). As the largest developing country, China faces large regional imbalances in its economy and social welfare. A nationwide synthetic indicator cannot reflect the sustainable development profile. As SDGs have not been evaluated at the national level of China and related studies worldwide at national or sub-national levels are rare, this paper aims to present a quantitative assessment of sustainable development goals at the sub-national level in China. We constructed a sustainable development index and dashboard evaluation framework under the SDGs and evaluated sustainable development indicators at the provincial scale to explore the sub-national heterogeneity. Results showed that the state of sustainable development in China is characterized by its pronounced geographic zones. Eastern provinces, including Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, have the highest scores of the China SDG Index. By contrast, western provinces, including Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Ningxia and Shanxi, have the lowest scores. We observe that both the Green Development Index and per capita GDP have very significant positive correlations with the China SDG Index and many single SDGs. Prioritizing economic development is beneficial to the implementation of the sustainable development goals for the western provinces, while trade-offs between economic development and environmental protection must be considered for eastern provinces.