Press releases, 04.05.2022

On 4 May, the Federal Council adopted the second country report on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Thanks to its competitiveness, high level of education and highly developed healthcare system and infrastructure, Switzerland is well prepared to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Still, the second country report indicates that further steps are needed, particularly as regards Switzerland's priority areas: sustainable consumption and production, climate, energy and biodiversity, and equal opportunities and social cohesion. Aside from the federal government, contributions to the report came from the cantons and communes, flanked by numerous actors from the business world, the scientific community, and civil society. The report will be officially presented at the UN in July 2022.

The 2030 Agenda sets out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, covering areas ranging from the fight against poverty to education, food security, gender equality, the protection of marine resources and terrestrial ecosystems, and access to clean energy. For the Federal Council, the 2030 Agenda is the appropriate framework for tackling the world's shared challenges. The Agenda's aim is to secure humanity's prosperity and well-being by 2030 without overexploiting natural resources. In the pursuit of this aim, no one should be left behind.

All UN member states are called upon to implement the SDGs and to report on them regularly. Switzerland will present its second comprehensive country report in New York in July 2022 at the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. The Federal Council approved the report today. It shows the extent to which Switzerland has made progress towards achieving the goals, both nationally and internationally, and has an appendix that provides statistics. Produced by the Federal Statistical Office in compliance with the principles of the neutrality and independence of public statistics, this appendix is designed to quantify the country report's qualitative analysis.

Switzerland is well positioned to implement the 2030 Agenda. It is highly competitive and can rely on high-quality education and healthcare systems and well developed infrastructure. Since its last country report four years ago, there have been positive developments, including the achievement of marriage equality and an increase in the percentage of women in the Federal Assembly and in cantonal parliaments.

Despite this progress, Switzerland's domestic and foreign policies are not well enough aligned to the SDGs. To achieve all the goals by 2030, significant action and coordination are needed, particularly in the areas that the Federal Council has identified as priority themes in its Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 (SDS 2030): sustainable consumption and production, climate, energy and biodiversity, and equal opportunities and social cohesion.

The focus for Switzerland is on challenges such as reducing resource and energy consumption (high in this country per person in international and European comparison), reducing greenhouse gas emissions, preserving biodiversity, and expanding renewable energy. In addition, Switzerland strives to ensure equal opportunities for all and to promote each individual's empowerment. It has set itself the goal of achieving de facto gender equality. Civil society, the private and financial sectors, educators, researchers and innovators, joined by the cantons and communes, can contribute substantially to implementing measures aimed at achieving the goals.

New database creates transparency and is continuously updated
In addition to the country report, the new SDGital2030.ch website details the current status of Switzerland's implementation of the 2030 Agenda. From 4 May 2022, assessments of each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets will also be published there. These assessments are the result of the stocktaking survey that involved not only the federal government, the cantons and the communes, but also numerous actors from the private sector, the scientific community and civil society who are committed to sustainable development. They were invited to submit their assessments of Switzerland's achievement of the goals during the 2018-22 survey period and to highlight their own contributions to the global sustainability goals.

Switzerland's comprehensive digitalisation of the 2030 Agenda process was groundbreaking. The new solution makes it possible to bundle the entire stocktaking work, from data collection to consultation, translation and publication, into a single, seamless process. This has created a sustainable, transparent and structured database that can be maintained and continuously updated until 2030 and beyond.


Further information:

Sustainable Development Goals: integrate stakeholders and new ideas
Homepage - 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development


(DE) Die Umsetzung der Agenda 2030 für nachhaltige Entwicklung: Länderbericht der Schweiz 2022(pdf, 9236kb)


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Last update 19.07.2023

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