Eyes on the data—How the methodology of the 2030 Agenda contributes to its probable failure

More than halfway through the 15-year timeline, the world is still far from reaching the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study locates one important reason for this in the specific design of the 2030 Agenda's methodology, the indicator-based goal-setting. In this, the Global Indicator Framework (GIF) should play a central role as a basis for political decisions and as an instrument for critical political communication. However, drawing on social science indicator research, this article shows that shortcomings in the GIF's genesis have led to the 2030 Agenda's effectiveness being severely limited. These limitations are: the one-sided focus on the provision of data, which results in the neglect of questions of implementation and tensions between and within political and statistical actors, which in turn leads to an undermining of the GIF itself. As a result, the GIF shows several crucial gaps in terms of content, is characterised by discrepancies between the political target and the measurement content of the indicators, and features indicators that change the goals through their measurement content. In response, the article notes a tendency towards non-use of the indicators, which undermines the whole 2030 Agenda. The results of this study can thus also be used as a basis for the future implementation of indicator-based policies.