Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and GDP: What National Accounts Bring to the Table

IMF Working Papers, March 7, 2018

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015 represent a new global consensus to end poverty, promote prosperity, and protect the environment.
Goal 8 seeks to improve global resource efficiency in consumption and production and to decouple economic growth (GDP) from environmental degradation while Goal 12 focuses on sustainable consumption and production.
While GDP does not capture these broader goals, the System of National Accounts (SNA), which incorporates but goes well beyond GDP, can be used for the measurement of these SDGs and to support policy.

The authors construct a conceptual “super balance sheet” with an expanded asset boundary to include:
- durable consumer goods used to produce services,
- human capital,
- access to resources such as clean water and air,
- education,
- health, and
- infrastructure.
The expanded asset boundary is used to produce an expanded household net worth.
Emphasis on the SNA asset boundary, SNA framework, and SNA production boundary as the basis for extending measurement beyond headline GDP.

GDP alone does not capture sustainability objectives embedded in the SDGs; national accounts offer a richer measurement system.
An expanded household sector balance sheet and broader stocks measurement can link production and resource access to welfare-relevant indicators.
Human capital and consumer durables are highlighted as critical elements to include in expanded balance sheets to reflect households’ capacity to produce and consume services.

Use the System of National Accounts to measure progress on SDGs and to inform policy choices aimed at decoupling GDP growth from environmental degradation.
Adopt an expanded asset boundary in national accounting to better reflect sustainable consumption and production (Goals 8 and 12).
Leverage the “super balance sheet” concept to produce policy-relevant indicators of household net worth, infrastructure, health, education, and access to clean resources.

IMF Working Paper — “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and GDP: What National Accounts Bring to the Table”

4. United States: SNA-Based Household Sector Balance Sheet
- 4. United States: SNA-Based Household Sector Balance Sheet (Markdown version)
- 4. United States: SNA-Based Household Sector Balance Sheet (PDF)