The following report focuses on disaggregation for the 92 environment-related SDG indicators. As several United Nations organizations are custodians for multiple indicators, the proposed disaggregation was developed in collaboration with the focal points of each environment-related SDG indicator. Where no response or endorsement was provided by the focal point(s) of indicators, this is highlighted in the respective indicator sheet.
The aim is to present which disaggregation can provide useful information for targeted national and sub-national policies and their benefits to society, the environment and the economy. As such, this report and its content are not binding to custodian agencies and are not part of the official procedure to adopt any alteration, addition or change to any indicator metadata. Should any proposed disaggregation be adopted in future iterations of the metadata of indicators, the custodian agency is the responsible agency for undertaking the official Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Indicators (IAEGSDGs) process to do so.
Each indicator sheet is divided into three sections:
Section 1 focuses on the information available in the metadata as published on the UN SDG indicator metadata repository website (United Nations Statistics Division [UNSD] 2023a). The definition, sub-indicators list and the source of information were derived directly from the latest version of the metadata published. The list of sub-indicators specifically focuses on what data is reported to the UN SDG Global Database. In some instances, more data and disaggregation could be available on the respective custodian agency website or database and not reported to the SDG Global Database. In these cases, such data and disaggregation are not included in the indicator sheet.
Section 2 highlights the current data availability for each indicator at regional level. The 92 environment-related SDG indicators are divided into two categories: (a) indicators where sub-indicators are available and data is reported, and (b) standalone indicators and data is reported. Data for this report was extracted on 02 July 2025. Any future alterations or additions of data are not considered.
For category (a) indicators, data is calculated based on any country having at least one sub-indicator data available at the time of data extraction. The number of countries is then transformed into a regional proportion using the SDG regional groupings (UNSD 2023b) (for each region, the number of countries with available data divided by the total number of countries in that region). Each country, regardless of the number of sub-indicators data that might be available, has the same weight in the regional calculations. The graph in section 2 also includes (top right) the total number of sub-indicators available to which data is available for each indicator.
For category (b) indicators, data is calculated based on any country having data reported for each indicator. The number of countries is then transformed into a regional proportion using the SDG regional groupings.
Section 3 presents the proposed disaggregation and its link to national or sub-national policymaking. It also includes information on the social, environmental or economic impacts of implementing the proposed policies. The development of the proposed disaggregation was performed via an extensive desk review of available information about indicators and what currently unavailable information could be needed to develop more targeted policies. Some disaggregation might be available but not reported to the UN Global Database. This information has been added to this section to emphasize the benefits of having such data available and its respective impacts.