Measuring your innovation’s progress towards the Sustainability Development Goals

Blog Post – SDG Innovation

Measuring your innovation’s progress
towards the Sustainability Development Goals

You have just received a new design brief. It sounds exciting. The scope is clear, the budget is decent, and it promises six months of engaging work. Yet something feels slightly off. You are left wondering whether this project is genuinely worth pursuing.

This moment of doubt is familiar. I have felt it many times throughout my career as a product designer. Despite the growing importance of sustainability in innovation, I could never find a clear and accessible tool to quickly assess whether a project truly contributes to long-term positive impact.

This short article introduces a simple method to evaluate your projects through the lens of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Whether you use it manually or with the support of artificial intelligence, the objective is the same: to make early-stage decisions with greater clarity and purpose.

This approach is designed to be lightweight, adaptable, and open to improvement over time. It is an invitation to collaborate, reflect, and take action.

What Are the SDGs?

In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development . At the heart of this agenda are 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 associated targets. Together, they form a universal framework for action across economic, social, and environmental dimensions.

Figure 1: The 17 Sustainable Development Goals 

Introducing the SDG Assessment Tool

In project management, early go or no-go decisions are often supported by risk analysis. This methodology builds on that idea. It offers a structured way to assess both the benefits and risks of your innovation project in relation to the SDGs.

This method works especially well for early-stage concepts. It is simple enough to use during ideation workshops, yet robust enough to inform strategic reviews across a portfolio.

The process follows five key steps:

  1. Review the project’s scope and intention
  2. Evaluate its potential benefits against each SDG
  3. Assess any possible risks or negative consequences
  4. Consolidate the results into a scorecard
  5. Use the scorecard to inform decisions or compare projects

Let us look at each step more closely.

Figure 2: Project SDGs evaluation workflow

Step One: Evaluating Benefits Analysis

Start by considering how your project could create positive contributions to each SDG. You can do this manually or by using your favorite LLM to assist in identifying opportunities.

SDG SDG benefit score Rationale
List each SDG per row
0 ⇒ No Relevant Contribution
1 ⇒ Minor Contribution
2 ⇒ Moderate Contribution
3 ⇒ Strong Contribution
 A short explanation of the scoring related to the potential benefit provided
… … …

Provide a short explanation of how the project contributes to each goal. Be honest. You are not aiming for perfection, just transparency.

Figure 3: LLM output of Paper Packaging Innovation SDGs Benefit Scoring 

Step Two: Assessing Risks  

Next, explore whether the project may inadvertently create negative consequences for any of the SDGs. This could include environmental trade-offs, supply chain impacts, or equity concerns.

SDG SDG risk score Rationale
List each SDG per row
0 ⇒ No relevant risk
1 ⇒ Minor
2 ⇒ Moderate
3 ⇒ Strong
 A short explanation of the scoring related to the risk identified
… … …

The aim is not to disqualify the project, but to surface potential blind spots before moving forward.

Figure 4: LLM output of Paper Packaging Innovation SDGs risk scoring 

Step Three: Building the Scorecard

Bring the benefit and risk scores together into a simple scorecard. This makes it easy to visualise the overall SDG alignment of the project at a glance.

Scorecards can include:

  1. A bar or radar chart comparing benefits and risks
  2. A summary of which SDGs are most impacted
  3. A coverage ratio showing how many SDGs are meaningfully addressed
  4. A brief section highlighting the top benefits and top risks
Figure 5: Example of project SDGs score card 

Why This Matters

Clients, investors, and end users are increasingly expecting innovation to align with a higher purpose. Being able to demonstrate how your project supports global sustainability targets is no longer a bonus, it is a competitive advantage.

This method gives you a clear, fast, and collaborative way to evaluate that alignment. It helps you make better decisions, tell a stronger story, and build more meaningful solutions.

Let’s Collaborate

If you are working on a project and would like support in applying this methodology, I would be glad to help. Whether you are exploring a single idea or managing a large portfolio, we can work together to clarify the SDG alignment, uncover opportunities, and reduce risks.

We also welcome feedback. If you have used this approach or a similar one and have suggestions for improvement, please get in touch.

All the best,

Savinien and Charlotte