Mid-term Status on SDG 6 Indicators: 6.3.2, 6.5.1, & 6.6.1 (2024)

United Nations 2 years ago

Water is vital to human and planetary health and the internationally agreed goals that back it, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the Sendai Framework and the Paris Agreement. Yet the triple planetary crisis – the crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss and pollution and waste – is affecting the availability, distribution, quality and quantity of water. Despite water being essential for human health, food security, energy supplies, sustaining cities, and ecosystems and on the front lines of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, SDG 6 is alarmingly off-track. For most of the SDG 6 Indicators, the current rate of progress is not fast enough to close the gap before 2030. In some cases, progress is even relapsing. The new mid-term status reports for SDG 6 indicators: 6.3.2, 6.5.1, and 6.6.1 found that if the priorities under SDG 6 are to be achieved by 2030, action on these indicators needs to be accelerated four times faster. These priorities can be ensured if adequate investments are made towards institutions, infrastructure, information, and innovation, where concerted action and institutional coherence is required, and new ideas, tools, and solutions are developed that draw from existing knowledge and indigenous practices. Working with partners within the framework of the UN-Water led Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6, UNEP officially launched reports, in August 2021, on the three SDG 6 indicators for which it is custodian. These indicator reports are: SDG 6.3.2 – Progress on Ambient Water Quality with a special focus on Health SDG 6.5.1 – Progress on the Implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management with special focus on Climate Change SDG 6.6.1 – Progress on Water-related Ecosystems with a special focus on Biodiversity A key underlying message from these reports is that existing efforts to protect and restore water-related ecosystems must be urgently scaled up and accelerated. Progress Reports can also be found on UN-Water's SDG 6 Progress Reports page
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layersDaily Sustainability Digest

Published about 2 hours ago



Governments are shifting from voluntary measures to regulated mandates as escalating heat and carbon commitments reshape sustainable construction worldwide. The UK’s new National Heat Risk Commission signals that sustainable building design must now integrate overheating resilience as a measurable criterion of environmental sustainability in construction. Global policy trends reinforce this shift, with UN-backed frameworks promoting passive-first, low carbon building strategies across climate-stressed regions.

The Future Homes Hub’s Embodied Carbon and Resource Efficiency Board underscores how embodied carbon and resource efficiency are redefining compliance. Whole life carbon assessment, lifecycle assessment and environmental product declarations (EPDs) are becoming the baseline for sustainable building practices, linking design decisions directly to life cycle cost and long-term performance. The carbon footprint of construction is no longer a theoretical concern but a regulated metric influencing tenders, specifications and procurement standards.

Manufacturers are responding by prioritising low embodied carbon materials and renewable building materials within circular economy strategies. Products supported by verified data on embodied carbon in materials are emerging as preferred options for specifiers pursuing net zero whole life carbon outcomes. Bio-based solutions such as wood fibre insulation now exemplify eco-design for buildings, combining thermal performance with low carbon design that supports energy-efficient buildings and net zero carbon targets.

Across the sector, sustainable material specification and resource efficiency in construction are converging into measurable frameworks aligned with BREEAM and BREEAM v7 standards. These support decarbonising the built environment through circular construction strategies, end-of-life reuse in construction and green building products designed for longer lifecycle performance.

The direction is clear: policy, market and climate conditions are embedding whole life carbon thinking into every stage of sustainable construction. Those leading with verifiable data, sustainable design principles and circular economy in construction models will define the next generation of low-impact, carbon neutral construction aligned with global sustainability goals.

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