The SDGs and what UFTM produces
The SDGs are the Sustainable Development Goals: the list of problems the world's countries agreed to tackle by 2030 — hunger, health, education, water, inequality, cities, climate. There are seventeen, and Brazil has added an eighteenth. This page explains what they are, shows what UFTM has already produced under each one, and helps those submitting work to recognize the goal their own research addresses.
What they are
In September 2015, at UN Headquarters in New York, the member states adopted the 2030 Agenda: a plan of action with 17 goals and 169 targets, to be achieved by 2030. It came into effect on January 1, 2016.
In practice, each goal is a problem with a name. SDG 6, for example, is clean water and sanitation. It exists because there are people without treated water or sewage systems — around the world, and here too: a stream receiving sewage in Uberaba and a water source supplying Iturama are the same problem, at a scale where something can be done about it. When a UFTM study analyzes the water from that source, it is addressing this goal — whether or not it used the word.
It is not a loose list of good intentions. Every target has indicators that are measured and published — in Brazil, by IBGE, the national statistics institute, with the targets adapted to the country's reality by Ipea, the institute for applied economic research. That is why saying which goal a piece of work addresses matters: it places the research on a map that is already being monitored.
Since 2024 the list has one more. SDG 18, Ethnic-Racial Equality, is not in the 2015 resolution: it was proposed by Brazil at the UN General Assembly in 2023, was given a thematic chamber in Brazil's National Commission for the SDGs, and was launched in November 2024. It did not stay on paper — IBGE already publishes it alongside the others on the ODS Brasil platform, with its own targets and indicators. On this site it is treated like the rest: the seventeen of the 2030 Agenda, and Brazil's eighteenth.
Each goal is identified by an icon — the numbered square, with its own colour and pictogram, designed to be recognized in any language. They are what give this site its colours.
- 2030 Agenda
- The agreement signed at the UN in 2015, with 2030 as its deadline.
- Goal (SDG)
- One of the 18 problems on the list. For example: quality education.
- Target
- What needs to change within the goal. There are 169 in the 2030 Agenda, and ten in SDG 18.
- Indicator
- The number that shows whether the target is moving. In Brazil, IBGE does the measuring.
What UFTM produces on this map
In the 2025 edition, the 757 papers presented were spread across all 17 goals of the 2030 Agenda. None was left empty.
This is not a statement of intent: it is a count of what was presented. The three largest were Quality Education (252), Good Health and Well-being (184) and Partnerships for the Goals (63). But the long tail says more: even No Poverty, the least populated, had 2 papers.
While one group works on hypertension, another measures the water of a local source and another trains teachers. Separately, they look like unrelated subjects; on the SDG map, they are fronts of the same effort.
SDG 18 is not part of this count. The model that classified the previous edition was trained on the UN's 17 and had nowhere to place a paper on ethnic-racial equality — in practice, such papers fell under SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities. Zero there means not measured, not “UFTM does not research this”. From 2026 on, authors indicate the goal themselves, and the picture will start to exist.
And the targets
The 169 targets were adapted to the Brazilian context by Ipea. This is not a translation: some were rewritten, and some became more than one — the national version sometimes names things the global one does not.
This edition's theme is a good example. Target 5.b, in the global Agenda, speaks only of information and communication technologies. In Brazil it became three sub-targets, and the second — 5.b.2br (in Portuguese, opens in a new tab) — is about gender equality in access to and production of scientific knowledge in all fields. That is where “Ciência Delas” (Science by Women) falls, and it is a target that exists only in the Brazilian version.
SDG 18 has its own targets: ten of them, written by the thematic chamber of Brazil's National Commission for the SDGs — eliminate racism and discrimination, guarantee fair treatment, ensure good-quality housing, health and education, promote the recognition of traditional knowledge, eliminate xenophobia — each with its own indicators.
Each card on this page has a line that begins “Your work belongs here if…”, followed by what to look for in your own abstract.
The target comes later, in the right place. In Hub JIEPE, each goal opens the list of its targets, and you choose by clicking the target — the goal comes with it. The question stops being “is my work about health?” and becomes “which target does it address?”. That is a much easier question, because a target is concrete: it says what needs to change by 2030. Recognizing yours means seeing, in one line, what your research contributes to an agenda the whole country is trying to meet.
The list shown in the Hub (which is in Portuguese) comes from odsbrasil.gov.br, the indicator platform run by IBGE: 179 targets — the 2030 Agenda's 169 with their global codes, 5.b rather than 5.b.2br, plus the ten of SDG 18. Anyone who wants to see the Brazilian adaptation next to the UN version can find it at Ipea; those of the eighteenth goal, at the thematic chamber of the National Commission for the SDGs.
How the goals are grouped
The 2030 Agenda itself groups the seventeen into five areas. It is the shortest route to finding yours: start with the area, then go down to the goal.
The eighteenth sits alongside the five. The areas come from the 2015 text and cover the goals that existed then; fitting a goal created later into one of them would mean inventing a grouping that nobody made.
-
People
End poverty and hunger, and ensure that everyone can live in dignity, with health and education.
-
-
Planet
Protect the planet from degradation, caring for water, climate and ecosystems for future generations.
-
-
Prosperity
Ensure prosperous lives, with decent work, energy, innovation and cities that work for everyone.
-
-
Peace
Peaceful, just societies, free from fear. There can be no sustainable development without peace, and no peace without sustainable development.
-
-
Partnership
None of this happens alone: governments, universities, businesses and communities have to work together.
-
-
Ethnic-racial equality
Added by Brazil, outside the UN's five areas
Treat racism as a development problem, not only a rights issue. It is the goal Brazil added to the UN's, in 2024.
-
The 18, one by one
For each goal: what it is, a real paper from the 2025 edition that fell under it, how to recognize whether yours belongs there too, and how many papers it had.
Where these numbers come from. In 2025 nobody filled in an SDG field: the papers were classified afterwards, by an automatic model that read the titles and abstracts. It is a machine reading — good for drawing a picture of an edition, not enough to say what each study set out to address. And it only sees the UN's 17: the SDG 18 card has no number because the model had no slot for it, not because the goal was empty. From 2026 on, you indicate it yourself, when you submit. The numbers are there to show where papers tend to fall, not as an answer key.
-
SDG 1 No Poverty
End poverty in all its forms, everywhere.
A paper from another goal that also touches this one (title in Portuguese) Câncer de Colo do Útero no Brasil: Desigualdades Regionais no Perfil Epidemiológico e Diagnóstico durante os anos de 2015 a 2024
Your work belongs here if it deals with income, social vulnerability, social benefits and protection, or with people who go without a basic service because they cannot afford it.
2 papers in 2025·0.3% of the edition
-
SDG 2 Zero Hunger
End hunger, ensure good-quality food for everyone, and farming that does not exhaust the land.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Eficiência do biofertilizante composto produzido a partir de microrganismos nativos e resíduos orgânicos na cultura do almeirão
Your work belongs here if it deals with food security, nutrition, malnutrition or obesity, food production, family farming or agricultural soil management.
13 papers in 2025·1.7% of the edition
-
SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
Ensure healthy lives and well-being for everyone, at all ages.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Avaliação do perfil clínico e epidemiológico de pacientes submetidos ao implante de marcapasso definitivo no hospital das clínicas da uftm
Your work belongs here if it investigates a disease, a treatment, prevention, mental health, public health or patient care. This is the broadest goal at JIEPE.
184 papers in 2025·24.3% of the edition
-
SDG 4 Quality Education
Ensure inclusive, good-quality education and opportunities to keep learning throughout life.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) A escrita na educação básica e seu papel na construção do conhecimento: a redação do Enem como projeto discursivo do dizer
Your work belongs here if it deals with teaching, learning, teacher education, teaching materials, student retention, peer tutoring, or extension work that teaches something.
252 papers in 2025·33.3% of the edition
-
SDG 5 Gender Equality
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Entre Palavras e Imagens: Uma análise decolonial dos signos femininos nas representações das mulheres em “Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno (1615)” de…
Your work belongs here if it deals with inequality between men and women, gender-based violence, women's participation and representation, or women's health specifically.
39 papers in 2025·5.2% of the edition
-
SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation
Safe drinking water and sanitation for everyone, with sustainable management of water resources.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Uso de cavitação hidrodinâmica na produção de amido modificado (polieletrólito biodegradável) para clarificação de águas residuárias
Your work belongs here if it deals with water quality, water or sewage treatment, access to sanitation, or rivers and springs as a water resource.
7 papers in 2025·0.9% of the edition
-
SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
Affordable, reliable and clean energy for everyone.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Estudo Numérico de Painéis Fotovoltáicos
Your work belongs here if it deals with energy generation, energy efficiency, renewable sources, or the cost of and access to energy.
16 papers in 2025·2.1% of the edition
-
SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
Inclusive economic growth and decent work for everyone.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Letramento Financeiro de Produtores de Farinha de Mandioca no Norte de Minas Gerais
Your work belongs here if it deals with working conditions, jobs and income, productivity, informal work, or workers' health and safety.
10 papers in 2025·1.3% of the edition
-
SDG 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Resilient infrastructure, sustainable industrialization and innovation.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Desenvolvimento de um robô autônomo omnidirecional
Your work belongs here if it is an engineering project, an industrial process, a new material or device, infrastructure, or research that produces technology.
10 papers in 2025·1.3% of the edition
-
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
Reduce inequality within and among countries.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Explorando o Impacto do Preconceito Relacionado à Idade no Bem-Estar Psicológico no Ambiente Profissional: uma revisão integrativa
Your work belongs here if it deals with inequality between groups (age, disability, territory, migration, income), or with discrimination and the inclusion of people who are usually left out. Note: when the focus is ethnic-racial, the goal is SDG 18.
35 papers in 2025·4.6% of the edition
-
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
Inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and communities.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Modelagem Matemática e Simulação da Dinâmica de Transmissão da Dengue
Your work belongs here if it deals with urban space, housing, mobility, heritage, green areas, or an environmental problem that happens within the city.
20 papers in 2025·2.6% of the edition
-
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
Consume and produce responsibly, generating less waste.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Produção de biogás a partir da digestão anaeróbia de subprodutos da indústria sucroalcooleira por cultura mista
Your work belongs here if it deals with waste, reuse, recycling, supply chains, or using fewer resources to do the same thing.
30 papers in 2025·4% of the edition
-
SDG 13 Climate Action
Take urgent action on climate change and its impacts.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Sistema de monitoramento e alerta de desastres climáticos.
Your work belongs here if it deals with climate, carbon emissions, warming, adaptation to extreme events, or the effects of climate change on people and environments.
7 papers in 2025·0.9% of the edition
-
SDG 14 Life Below Water
Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Implementação de um modelo computacional para a análise hidrodinâmica do Lago Guaíba e Lagoa dos Patos, como contributo para a concepção de sistema…
Your work belongs here if it is about the marine environment and aquatic life. Note: fresh water from rivers or lakes usually falls under SDG 6, as a water resource, or SDG 15, as an ecosystem.
6 papers in 2025·0.8% of the edition
-
SDG 15 Life on Land
Protect life on land: forests, soil, biodiversity and ecosystems.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Avanços curatoriais e digitalização das coleções entomológicas do CEPEBE e Lestes Lab
Your work belongs here if it deals with fauna, flora, biodiversity, soil, natural areas, deforestation or the restoration of degraded environments.
21 papers in 2025·2.8% of the edition
-
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Peaceful and just societies, with access to justice and institutions that work.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Chico Buarque nos anos 1960: entre a unanimidade nacional e o embate com a censura
Your work belongs here if it deals with rights, violence, justice, citizenship, public policy, transparency, or how an institution works from the inside.
42 papers in 2025·5.5% of the edition
-
SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals
Strengthen the partnerships that make it possible to achieve all the other goals.
A JIEPE paper here (title in Portuguese) Universidades promotoras de saúde no brasil
Your work belongs here if the work exists because of a partnership: the university with a school, a health service, a city government, a social movement. Networked extension work almost always belongs here.
63 papers in 2025·8.3% of the edition
-
SDG 18 Ethnic-Racial Equality
Confront racism and guarantee equal rights and opportunities for Black people, Indigenous peoples and other racialized groups.
Your work belongs here if it seeks to understand how structural and institutional racism affect the health, education, work or income of Black people, Indigenous peoples, quilombola communities (descendants of escaped enslaved Africans) or traditional communities, as well as the social movements fighting for ethnic-racial equality; work that values Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous history, culture and knowledge also belongs here.
No 2025 picture·that edition's classifier only knows the UN's 17
Sources
- 2030 Agenda, official text (opens in a new tab) United Nations — the full resolution, with the 17 goals, the 169 targets and the preamble that groups them into five areas. The 18th is not here: it came later.
- The 17 Goals (opens in a new tab) United Nations — the official names in English, used on this version of the site.
- Brazilian SDG indicators (in Portuguese, opens in a new tab) IBGE, on the ODS Brasil platform — how the country is measured on each target, with all eighteen goals side by side. The SDG 18 icon and colour used on this site come from there.
- Targets adapted to the Brazilian context (in Portuguese, opens in a new tab) Ipea — the work of translating the global targets into what makes sense to measure in Brazil.
- The SDG 18 thematic chamber (in Portuguese, opens in a new tab) National Commission for the SDGs — which writes the targets and indicators of the eighteenth goal and publishes its bulletins.
