Cities

Indicator 18b

Definition: SDG Indicator 11.1.1: Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements, or inadequate housing. This indicator measures the proportion of urban population living in informal settlements and deprived housing conditions (lack of access to improved water, access to improved sanitation, sufficient living area, and durability of housing). It takes into account slums, informal settlements and inadequate housing. It is a key indicator measuring the adequacy of the basic human need for shelter (housing). An increase of this indicator is a sign for deteriorating living conditions in urban areas.

The view shows the number of inhabitants living in slums in thousands per inhabitants.

Precautions / Notes: The Information needed for the computation of this indicator is not currently available for all Mediterranean countries. This indicator is approximated by the proportion of urban population living in slums. The data is collected in the framework of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme.

Cities

Indicator 19 : Status of UNESCO world heritage sites

Definition :The 1972 World Heritage Convention links together in a single document the concepts of nature conservation and the preservation of cultural properties. The Convention recognizes the way in which people interact with nature, and the fundamental need to preserve the balance between the two. The World Heritage Committee defined the criteria on the basis of which a property belonging to the cultural or natural heritage may be included in either of the lists: 

• The World Heritage List: a list of properties forming part of the cultural heritage and natural heritage which it considers as having outstanding universal value. 

• The List of World Heritage in Danger: the list may include only such property forming part of the cultural and natural heritage as it is threatened by serious and specific danger.

Analytical part :

The heritage conservation is one of the objectives of UNESCO: “Based on a strong appeal from national and local stakeholders, the 2030 Agenda adopted by the UN General Assembly integrates, for the first time, the role of culture, through cultural heritage and creativity, as an enabler of sustainable development across the Sustainable Development Goals” (UNESCO).
The List of World Heritage sites constantly progressed in the Mediterranean. The number of sites inscribed has increased from 29 in 1980 to 266 in 2021 (4 new sites since 2019), including 9 transboundary sites.
More than half (56%) of these 266 sites (148 sites) are located on the Mediterranean coast (within 100 km of the coastline). 
In Mediterranean countries: 91 % are cultural sites, 6 % are natural sites, 3 % are mixed sites.
However, there are great differences among countries: 
- 3 countries have many sites: Italy (51), Spain (45) and France (40). Greece (18) and Türkiye (19) are lagging far behind. 
- 13 countries have less than 10 sites each.
In 2019, in the World, 53 sites are in danger and 28% (15) of these sites are in Mediterranean countries. All sites located in The Syrian Arab Republic, Libya and The State of Palestine are inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Cities

Indicator 20 : Waste generated and treated by type of waste and treatment type

Definition: This indicator is one of the H2020/ ENI SEIS II South Support Mechanism project and it is also linked to the SDG Indicator 11.6.1 (Proportion of urban solid waste regularly collected and with adequate final discharge out of total urban solid waste generated, by cities) and to SDG Indicator 12.5.1 (National recycling rate, tons of material recycled). 
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is waste generated by households, and waste of a similar nature generated by commercial and industrial premises, by institutions and from public spaces. Waste treatment and disposal includes the following categories: recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion, incineration, landfilling, open dumping.

In the Mediterranean region the waste generation and management practices vary widely.
In 2019, in the Northern countries, the range of value is from 1.1 to 1.9 kg/cap/day. In the southern countries, the amount generated is from 0.5 kg/cap/day in Morocco to 0.9 in Lebanon.
The highest values are for Cyprus and Israel and above EU countries average (1,34 kg/cap/day) with 1,76 kg/cap/day. 
In the Northern countries (inc. Israel), the percentage of Food & Organic waste is between 25% and 60% while this rate in the Southern countries is from 49 % in The State of Palestine to 70% in Libya).
In 2020, the recycling rate is also widely varying. In the northern countries, the recycling rate raises to 46% in Slovenia, except in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a rate close to 0 (the rate for Israel is 25%). France, Italy and Greece are around 20 to 25%. Croatia, Spain and Cyprus are around 10-17%.
Algeria, Lebanon, Malta, Montenegro, Monaco and Morocco are around 5 to 10%.
In the southern countries, Egypt has the highest recycling rate (12.5%) and the rate is especially low in the Syrian Arab Republic (2,5%).
In the Mediterranean, E-Wastes and hazardous wastes respectively represent 8 billions tonnes and 28 billions tonnes. France and Italy are the biggest producers in the Mediterranean region.

Precautions / Notes: Compared to 2016, in 2019 data is available for Industrial, medical, hazardous, electronic, and construction and demolition waste but is not reported in total national waste generation. These variables are considered as “special wastes”.
Unfortunately, differences in data production methods between the countries can lead to distortions in the analysis.

Climate Change

Indicator 21 : Green House Gas emissions per capita (related to GDP)

Definition:  Greenhouse gases correspond to the aggregate annual national emissions of human origin of the main greenhouse gases: Carbon dioxide (CO2 ), Nitrogen dioxide (N2O), Methane (CH4 ), Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), Fluorocarbon (PFC) and Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6 ).

Analytical part :

All the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention have ratified the Paris Agreement (Turkiye was the last one in October 2021). 
These countries are officially committed to achieve global peaking and ‘climate neutrality’ by the second half of the century.
The rise in CO2 emissions from 2000 to 2017 was higher than the national objectives in most countries except in France.
Since 2018, CO2 emissions have decreased in most of the Mediterranean countries except Libya, Morocco, Malta, Algeria and less in Tunisia and Türkiye. The COVID-19 period contributed to reducing C02 emissions but since 2021 the trend is again rising.
Since 2017, Libya increased by 40% its CO2 emissions per capita while Bosnia & Herzegovina decreased its emission by around 38%.
In 2021, Mediterranean average per capita emissions were at 4.3 tons of CO2 per year (4.6 tons in 2016). 
In 2021, Mediterranean countries contributed to 1,2% of the global CO2 emissions while China contributed to 6,2%.
In the North, the CO2 emissions per capita are extremely diverse: from 1.6 tons per capita in Albania to above 5.95 tons in Slovenia, in 2021. 
The differences in CO2 emissions per capita are also significant in the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries: from 1.26 tons in the Syrian Arab Republic to 11 tons in Libya.

Precautions / Notes: For the monitoring of this indicator, only carbon dioxide emissions from solid fuels, cement and the gas flaring are taken into account. This is explained by their good data availability and the fact that those emissions, on average, count for 80% of the emissions of greenhouse gasses of human origin. 
Only national emissions are taken into account. For example, those due to the manufacture of imported products are not shown. National carbon dioxide emissions do not cover the full responsibility of a country.

Source:  Integrated Carbon Observation system (Global Carbon Project, 2021).

Cities

Indicator 22a : Energy intensity measured in termes of primary energy and GDP (SDG Indicator 7.3.1) 

Definition: SDG 7.3.1 Indicator: Energy intensity is defined as the energy supplied to the economy per unit value of economic output. Total energy supply, as defined by the International Recommendations for Energy Statistics (IRES), is made up of production plus net imports minus international marine and aviation bunkers plus stock changes. 

Analytical part : SDG Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all: 

• SDG Target 7.3: By 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency  
• SDG Target 7.2: By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix

In Mediterranean countries, the energy intensity and the share of renewable energy are improving at different speeds. In 2019, the average energy intensity of the Mediterranean countries (3.8 MJ megajoules per GDP constant 2017 PPP dollar) was above the European average (3.1 MJ).
However, disparities among countries remain significant, even among countries with equivalent income levels. Energy intensity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Montenegro is over 3 MJ while it is lower than 1.4 MJ in Malta. 

Precautions / Notes: The very high values should be interpreted with caution for the countries in economic crisis (with low GDP). PPP: Purchasing Power Parity, MJ: megajoules.
The basis changed for value in 2019, from per GDP constant 2011 PPP dollar until 2017 and since 2019 per GDP constant 2017 PPP dollar.
A mistake has been detected in the provider’s database. In the description of the variables the unit is in “MJ per constant 2017 PPP GDP” while in the dataset the unit is in “MJ per constant 2011 PPP GDP”.

Source:  International Energy Agency (2019), World Energy Balances; Energy.
 

Cities

Indicator 22b : Renewable energy share in the total energy consumption (SGD Indicator 7.2.1)

Definition: SDG 7.2.1 Indicator:  The renewable energy share in total final consumption is the percentage of final consumption of energy that is derived from renewable resources. Renewable energy consumption includes consumption of energy derived from: hydro, solid biofuels, wind, solar, liquid biofuels, biogas, geothermal, marine and waste. Total final energy consumption is calculated from national balances and statistics as total final consumption minus non-energy use

Analytical part : In Mediterranean countries, the share of renewable energy in total final consumption varies widely in 2019: from 0.16 % in Algeria to 40 % in Albania. Italy, France, Spain, Greece the share of renewable energy in total final consumption varies  between 15 to 18 %. In Morocco, Tunisia the share of renewable energy in total final consumption varies from 10 to 12%. In the Balkan countries, the share is between 20% and 40% while it is very low (below 3%) in the Southern countries, especially in the Oil & Gas producing countries.

Source:  International Energy Agency (2019), World Energy Balances; Energy.
 

Green Economy

Indicator 23a : Domestic material consumption (23)

Definition: SDG 8.4.2 Indicator: Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP. 
Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) is a standard material flow accounting (MFA) indicator and reports the apparent consumption of materials in a national economy. It is measured for several types of materials. 
For the monitoring of this indicator, the DMC is shown for raw materials. The DMC is measured in kg per constant 2015 US dollars.

The comparison of material consumption with economic performance provides an insight in trends of material intensity and material productivity (the reciprocal value of material intensity) as well as of decoupling of the global economic system over time. 
For instance, in the EU Roadmap to a Resource-Efficient Europe the main indicator used is GDP divided by Direct Material Consumption (DMC). 
Domestic material consumption declined from 2007 to 2017 but slightly increased from 2017 to 2019, GDP has also continued to grow (indicator 3).
From 2017 to 2019, tons of domestic material consumption have decreased in Greece and  Lebanon with (-11%), Slovenia (-9%) Italy, France while in Bosnia & Herzegovina (+8%) Spain the DMC increased about +4%.  
In the southern shore, tons of domestic material consumption has decreased in Tunisia (-7%) and The Syrian Arab Republic (-17%) while it increased in Egypt (+9%), Morocco about +6%.
In the period 2017–2019, the Mediterranean economy achieved a “relative decoupling” of economic growth from resource use (fossil fuels, metal ores, industrial and construction minerals, biomass): income or GDP of most Mediterranean countries increased faster than the amount of materials used in the Mediterranean countries.

Precautions / Notes: The indicator does not take into account the consequences of outsourced material-intensive extraction and production which dislocates environmental pressures. Water and air consumption are, apart from the water content of materials, not included. DMC cannot be disaggregated to economic sectors which limits its potential to become a satellite account to the System of National Accounts (SNA). 
The UN Environment International Resource Panel Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity working group compiles data from countries and from other sources. 

Source:  UN Environment Programme International Resource Panel Global Material Flows Database, 2020. Available at: www.materialflows.net
UN SDG portal.

Green Economy

Indicator 23b : Domestic material consumption per GDP

Definition: SDG 8.4.2 Indicator: Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP. 
Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) is a standard material flow accounting (MFA) indicator and reports the apparent consumption of materials in a national economy. It is measured for several types of materials. 
For the monitoring of this indicator, the DMC is shown for raw materials. The DMC is measured in kg per constant 2015 US dollars.

In the EU Med countries in 2019, the DMC - total or no breakdown - per constant 2015 US dollars  is lower than 1. It decreased about 0.04 points compared to the situation in 2017.
It is between 1 and 2.8 in most southern countries and reached 2.8 and 2.6 respectively in The Syrian Arab Republic and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
From 2017-2019, domestic material consumption per capita has slightly decreased in Greece and Slovenia (gross rate of change around -10%), Italy, State of Palestine  and Tunisia (about -8%). In the meantime Türkiye domestic material consumption per capita has increased significantly +30%.

Precautions / Notes: The indicator does not take into account the consequences of outsourced material-intensive extraction and production which dislocates environmental pressures. Water and air consumption are, apart from the water content of materials, not included. DMC cannot be disaggregated to economic sectors which limits its potential to become a satellite account to the System of National Accounts (SNA). 
The UN Environment International Resource Panel Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity working group compiles data from countries and from other sources.

Source: UN Environment Programme International Resource Panel Global Material Flows Database, 2020. Available at: www.materialflows.net
UN SDG portal.