Articulating natural resources and sustainable development goals through green economy indicators: A systematic analysis

Natural Resources are essential inputs for economic and social development. However, unsustainable resource use has led to environmental degradation and resource depletion, endangering the well-being of humanity and the environment. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a plan of action to address these issues. The Green Economy (GE) concept is described by various institutions as a vehicle to move towards sustainable resource management. This paper demonstrates the linkages between SDGs and Natural Resources though the systematic analysis of 494 GE indicators, derived from 12 distinct frameworks focusing on GE or on Green Growth. This articulation provides insights to gain an improved understanding of the links between SDGs and Natural Resources and interpret their inherent complexity. GE indicators focus unevenly on SDG, although each SDG is related to at least one resource category. Two complementary typologies were applied to the Materials subcategory to highlight additional characteristics, leading to the proposal of an adaptable analytical framework for the assessment of sustainability issues and GE transitions.