The reason is that the SDGs do not go far enough:

1. After Five Years https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/disaster-choice/202009/the-sustainable-development-goals-after-five-years

2. SDG18 https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/disaster-choice/202007/sustainable-development-goal-18

3. Connecting with disasters and climate change https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-02-2017-0043

4. Connecting with health and economics http://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v4i4.729

Zouyene Sadek

The world's failure to meet its commitments to sustainable development—including those outlined in frameworks like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Paris Agreement—can be attributed to a combination of complex political, economic, social, technological, and systemic factors. Here are some of the key reasons:

1. Lack of Political Will and Global Coordination

• Short-Term Political Priorities: Many governments prioritize short-term goals, such as immediate economic growth or political survival, over long-term sustainability. The urgency of addressing issues like climate change or inequality often takes a backseat to more immediate concerns, such as re-election cycles or responding to economic crises.
• Political Fragmentation: Global agreements, such as the Paris Agreement or the SDGs, require collective action. However, countries have different priorities, economic capabilities, and levels of commitment to sustainability. For example, developed nations often focus on climate mitigation, while developing nations prioritize economic development and poverty alleviation, sometimes at the expense of environmental goals.
• Lack of Effective Enforcement: Even when international agreements are made, there is often little enforcement to ensure compliance. Many countries do not meet their commitments to carbon emissions reductions, for example, and the absence of penalties or strict monitoring mechanisms weakens global agreements.

2. Economic System Prioritizing Growth Over Sustainability

• Capitalism and Economic Growth: The current global economic model, especially in capitalist economies, often equates success with constant growth, which tends to ignore ecological limits. The relentless push for profit maximization and growth results in resource depletion, environmental degradation, and inequality, which are fundamentally at odds with the goals of sustainable development.
• Subsidies for Polluting Industries: Many countries continue to subsidize fossil fuel industries, which undermines efforts to transition to cleaner energy sources. Fossil fuel extraction, agriculture, and transportation continue to be heavily subsidized despite their significant negative impact on the environment.
• Resource Dependency: Many economies, particularly those of resource-rich countries, remain heavily dependent on the exploitation of natural resources. The economic benefits of such industries often outweigh efforts to transition to greener alternatives, leading to delayed action on sustainability.

3. Social Inequality and Poverty

• Poverty as a Barrier to Sustainability: In many developing countries, the focus is on meeting basic human needs—food, clean water, healthcare, and housing—rather than pursuing sustainability goals. For many people in poverty, the immediate goal is survival, and they may lack the resources or awareness to prioritize environmental sustainability.
• Unequal Access to Resources and Technology: The poorest countries often lack the technological capacity or financial resources to implement sustainable practices. For instance, renewable energy technologies, sustainable agriculture, and water management systems are expensive and require long-term investment, which is a challenge in poorer nations.

4. Technological and Structural Barriers

• Slow Technological Transition: While renewable energy technologies and other sustainable innovations exist, their widespread adoption has been slow due to high initial costs, technological gaps, and a lack of infrastructure. Transitioning from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources requires significant investment in new technologies, which is a barrier for many governments and corporations.
• Resistance to Change in Key Industries: The industries most responsible for environmental degradation (e.g., fossil fuels, mining, industrial agriculture) are often deeply entrenched in the economy. These industries wield significant political power and can resist regulations or changes that would affect their profitability, further delaying the shift to sustainability.
• Technological Lock-In: Many sectors are locked into existing technologies that are not conducive to sustainable development. For example, fossil fuel-based infrastructure (such as power plants, transportation networks, and buildings) requires a major overhaul to switch to renewable energy, which is costly and logistically challenging.

5. Cultural and Behavioral Factors

• Consumerism and Overconsumption: The global culture of consumerism, particularly in wealthier countries, encourages excessive consumption, waste, and a "throwaway" mentality. This goes against the principles of sustainable development, which emphasize resource conservation, efficiency, and reducing waste.
• Lack of Public Awareness and Education: Despite growing awareness of sustainability issues, many people still lack a deep understanding of the urgency and complexity of the problems. This limits public support for policy changes or personal lifestyle adjustments that would contribute to more sustainable outcomes.
• Resistance to Lifestyle Change: Many people are reluctant to change their lifestyles due to habits formed around convenience, luxury, or familiarity. For example, shifting to more sustainable diets (e.g., plant-based food) or reducing energy consumption requires significant lifestyle changes that many are unwilling to make.

6. Global Supply Chains and Trade

• Environmental Externalities: Global supply chains often externalize the environmental costs of production to poorer countries or ecosystems. For instance, products are often made in countries with weaker environmental regulations, leading to deforestation, pollution, and waste. This encourages unsustainable production methods, which are difficult to change on a global scale.
• Unfair Trade Practices: International trade agreements often prioritize economic growth and trade over environmental or social safeguards, enabling practices that harm the environment. For example, agricultural subsidies in wealthy nations can undermine the ability of developing nations to invest in sustainable agriculture practices.

7. Inadequate Measurement and Accountability

• Difficulty Measuring Progress: Sustainable development is a broad concept that includes environmental, social, and economic dimensions. Measuring success is difficult because these aspects are interconnected and often difficult to quantify. This makes it harder to track progress and adjust strategies accordingly.
• Lack of Effective Monitoring and Transparency: Even when commitments to sustainable development are made, many countries lack the systems for properly monitoring progress. Without transparency and effective data collection, it's difficult to hold governments, corporations, and individuals accountable for failing to meet sustainability goals.
• Fragmentation of Goals: While the SDGs provide a comprehensive framework, their implementation often lacks coherence and alignment. Goals may be pursued in isolation, with insufficient attention given to the interconnections between, for example, poverty reduction, climate action, and gender equality. This disjointed approach can lead to conflicting policies and inefficiencies.

8. Climate Change and Environmental Degradation

• Climate Change Feedback Loops: Climate change itself exacerbates other sustainability challenges (e.g., food security, water availability, biodiversity loss). Extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and shifting agricultural zones are creating new challenges that undermine progress toward sustainable development.
• Biodiversity Loss and Ecosystem Degradation: The destruction of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity are also significant challenges. The decline in natural resources like forests, oceans, and soil health undermines the foundation for sustainable human survival. These environmental losses often go unaddressed or are treated as separate from development goals.

@zouyene .. as per my opinion biggest reason for failure of sustainable development is individual contribution worldwide. If we people individually follow sustainable way of living we can together achieve sdg. For example sdg says no plastic or waste reduction etc but individually we have to avoid plastic in day to day use or we need to discard waste as per category, we need to save electricity at home etc are basic lifestyle change that everyone needs to follow. But due to lack of awareness and education there is biggest failure of sustainable developement commitment.

If we talk about global scale than not only industries but many NGOs and other organisations has started awaring local people to follow the sustainable way to use and save resources for next generations. Still I think that industries are following norms of respective govt. but to change the world we all need to change our lifestyle to avoid waste, to avoid plastics, to buy fresh veges n fruits , use public transport, support renewable energy sources etc…