Designing a Cost-Informed, burden-based Prioritization Index for SDG transformations

This study develops a Cost-Informed SDG Transformation Priority Index (CI-STPI) using the selected-target dashboard of the Global Sustainable Development Report 2023 (GSDR 2023). The index operationalises relative ex ante transformation burden through three directly observable dimensions: distance from target, trend of SDG progress in 2023, and directional change between 2020 and 2023. The coded dimensions are rescaled to their theoretical maxima and aggregated into an entry-level score with a theoretical range of 30.00 to 100.00, where higher values indicate greater relative transformation burden. The baseline model uses only observed dashboard information, while the report’s transformation phases are retained as a supplementary interpretive and robustness layer. Robustness is assessed through one-at-a-time weight perturbations, equal weighting, geometric aggregation, a strict non-compensatory stress test, comparison with the supplementary TPI model, and a missing-information treatment for N/A directional-change entries. Sustainable fish-stock management, greenhouse-gas mitigation, food security, institutional resilience, and selected health outcomes remain the highest-priority areas within the dashboard’s 36-entry universe. Moderate weight perturbations and geometric aggregation preserve the upper-priority cluster, whereas equal weighting and the strict minimum rule affect several middle-ranking positions and priority-band classifications. The study contributes a transparent and reproducible procedure for converting an authoritative SDG dashboard into a pre-budget prioritisation tool for sequencing, policy appraisal, and resource-allocation deliberation. The CI-STPI should be interpreted as a relative transformation-burden proxy, not as a measure of monetary cost.