This was a fun project. We were given a paper, and we had to turn it into a palatable book. The following is what we understood reading this paper.
There are 17 SDGs and 169 targets within those goals. The illusive overall sustainability will be achieved only if we chase all the targets in a holistic manner. But that is not to happen as the world runs with a profit motive and 'economic prudence' drive all actions. There is a lot of investment needed to achieve these goals and investors are only interested in the goals where returns are assured. Hence, goals like infrastructure, economic growth, sustainable cities, renewable energy are more attractive to invest in.
Interestingly, a lot of goals that are supposed to be for social goods, are also attractive for investors as in a market economy education, healthcare, food are not seen as right, but as business opportunity. In the process, goals that are supposed to be taking care of ecology are grossly neglected.
See the image on top, Stockholm Resilience Centre's version of understanding SDGs in the form of a wedding cake. It argues that those 4 SDGs at the bottom are the biggest portion as they keep the ecology sustainable. If you can manage that well, then think of well being of human society, and the economic portion is a small one.
But as we know, the whole process is reversed in real world!
