Ocean’s 14: Mixed sustainable marine development in the European Union

The European Union's marine policy and strategy for sustainable blue growth combines environmental and economic objectives, as set out in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14. Efficient marine policy design requires information on the status and evolution of ocean health at the country level, including information on the extent to which strong sustainable development (i.e., balanced development across socio-economic and environmental dimensions) is being achieved. Here, we provide a comprehensive assessment of progress towards SDG 14 for 15 EU coastal countries in the Baltic, North, and Atlantic Seas, covering the period 2012-2022. To this end, we develop a new set of indicators to improve the coverage of the SDG targets. The EU is achieving sustainable marine development, but not comprehensively in all countries. While seven countries achieved sustainable development under both weak and strong sustainability, seven countries developed only under weak sustainability, and one country made no progress under either concept.