by PublicABCP
Translated and reviewed by Matheus Lucas Hebling
SDGs in Local Politics: How Candidates for Governor of São Paulo Incorporated the 2030 Agenda
The analysis of the alignment between the 2022 government plans of candidates for the governorship of São Paulo and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda was the focus of a study conducted by a group of eleven researchers affiliated with the University of São Paulo (USP): Sylvestre A. Carvalho, Lira L. B. Lazaro, Andrea F. Young, Rooney R. A. Coelho, Fábio J. M. Ortega, Carolina B. M. C. Hecksher, José R. Cardoso, João S. W. Ferreira, Pedro R. Jacobi, Arlindo P. Junior and Marcos S. Buckeridge.
The study, Assessing the Alignment of Brazilian Local Government Plans with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, employed natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence and statistical analysis to evaluate how these plans incorporate global priorities. Among the techniques used were topic modelling with Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), qualitative perceptual analysis by experts and the use of vector embeddings through OpenAI’s text-embedding-ada-002 model, enabling the measurement of semantic similarity between the texts of the government plans and the 169 SDG targets.
The objective of the study was to identify key themes in the government plans, explore patterns and trends, and assess alignment with the 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda, categorised into the social dimension (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 and 16), environmental dimension (SDGs 6, 13, 14 and 15) and economic dimension (SDGs 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12). The plans of ten candidates were analysed to examine the integration of global priorities into local policy proposals.
The findings indicate that alignment between the government plans and the SDGs was weak, particularly in the environmental and social domains. Environmental issues, in particular, showed minimal coverage: no party exceeded the 20% alignment threshold with SDG 13 (climate action), 14 (life below water) or 15 (life on land). Although “sanitation” appeared with some prominence, themes such as “decarbonisation” and “biome preservation” were virtually absent — a striking omission in light of the recent impacts of climate change in the state.
The analysis identified 19 priority themes in the plans, including education, health, sanitation, employment and public security, with variations across parties. Only four parties (PT, REP, PDT and PSDB) addressed all topics; others, such as the PCO, covered only four, with a strong concentration on “employment and income”.
The Workers’ Party (PT) presented the highest alignment with the SDGs, at 86.39%, followed by Republicanos (REP) at 56.21% and the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) at 53.85%. Even so, the distribution across the different goals was uneven. Furthermore, formal analysis of the documents revealed that most plans lacked basic structure (such as a table of contents, introduction or statistical references), suggesting that many proposals were drafted merely to comply with legal requirements, without a substantive commitment to the formulation of concrete policy guidelines.
The study concludes that more transparent and measurable government plans are needed, with stronger integration of the SDGs, particularly to address challenges such as climate change, natural disasters and infrastructure deficiencies.
Barriers such as limited technical knowledge of the SDGs, scarcity of resources and lack of political will were identified as obstacles to their incorporation. The authors suggest that future research should expand semantic analysis to other political documents and refine assessment methodologies, in order to bring local agendas closer to global commitments.
Author Profiles
Sylvestre Aureliano Carvalho holds a degree in Physics from the Federal University of Lavras (2013), a Master’s degree (2015) and a PhD (2019) in Applied Physics from the Federal University of Viçosa. He has experience working with mean-field models, including modelling with ordinary and partial differential equations applied to the spread of epidemics.
Lira Luz Benites Lázaro holds a PhD from the Earth System Science Center at the National Institute for Space Research (CST-INPE). She completed her Master’s and PhD at the Graduate Programme in Latin American Integration at the University of São Paulo (USP-PROLAM). She is an accredited professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC) and at the School of Mechanical Engineering (FEM) in the Graduate Programme in Energy Systems Planning at UNICAMP.
Andrea Ferraz Young holds a PhD in Agricultural Engineering, with specialisation in Environmental Management and Geosciences, and a degree in Architecture and Urbanism. Her work combines principles of urban planning and engineering with environmental science and geospatial data analysis.
Rooney Ribeiro Albuquerque Coelho holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Fortaleza (2013), a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Ceará (2015) and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Uberlândia (2019).
Fábio José Muneratti Ortega holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (2009), a Master’s degree in Digital Systems from the same institution (2013) and a PhD in Music Technology from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain (2022). He served as Lecturer and Researcher at Universitat Pompeu Fabra from 2016 to 2022.
Carolina Botelho Marinho da Cunha Hecksher holds a PhD in Political Science from IESP/UERJ, a Master’s degree in Sociology and Anthropology from UFRJ and a degree in Social Sciences from UFRJ. She is currently a research consultant at the International Labour Organization (ILO) and a political scientist at the Institute of Advanced Studies of USP, where she conducts postdoctoral research.
José Roberto Cardoso holds a degree in Electrical Engineering (Electrotechnics) from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (1974), and completed his Master’s (1979), PhD (1986) and Habilitation (1993) in Electrical Engineering at the same institution. He undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the Laboratoire d’Électrotechnique de Grenoble (France) from 1987 to 1988. He is currently Full Professor at the Polytechnic School of USP (EPUSP), coordinator of the Applied Electromagnetism Laboratory (LMAG), and served as Director of EPUSP from 2010 to 2014.
João Sette Whitaker Ferreira is Full Professor at the School of Architecture and Urbanism of USP (FAUUSP) and Director of FAUUSP (12/2022 to 12/2026). He holds degrees in Architecture and Urbanism (1990) and in Economics (1993), a Master’s degree in Political Science (1998), a PhD in Architecture and Urbanism (2003) and a Habilitation (2013), all from the University of São Paulo.
Pedro Roberto Jacobi holds degrees in Social Sciences (1973) and Economics (1972) from the University of São Paulo, a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (1976), and a PhD in Sociology from the University of São Paulo (1986). He is Habilitated in Education at USP.
Arlindo Philippi Junior holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Health and a PhD in Public Health (USP), a postdoctoral fellowship in Urban and Regional Studies (MIT, USA), and a Habilitation in Environmental Policy and Management (USP). He is Full Professor at the University of São Paulo.
Marcos Silveira Buckeridge is a biologist (1981), holds a Master’s degree in Molecular Biology from UNIFESP (1984) and a PhD in Plant Biochemistry (1994) from the University of Stirling, Scotland, UK. He was a Scientific Researcher at the São Paulo State Environmental Secretariat’s Institute of Botany for 20 years. In 2006 he joined USP, where he is currently Full Professor at the Institute of Biosciences.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Title: Assessing the Alignment of Brazilian Local Government Plans with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
Authors: Sylvestre A. Carvalho; Lira L. B. Lazaro; Andrea F. Young; Rooney R. A. Coelho; Fábio J. M. Ortega; Carolina B. M. C. Hecksher; José R. Cardoso; João S. W. Ferreira; Pedro R. Jacobi; Arlindo P. Junior; Marcos S. Buckeridge
Year of Publication: 2023
Available in: SDGs in Local Politics: How Candidates for Governor of São Paulo Incorporated the 2030 Agenda
The analysis of the alignment between the 2022 government plans of candidates for the governorship of São Paulo and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda was the focus of a study conducted by a group of eleven researchers affiliated with the University of São Paulo (USP): Sylvestre A. Carvalho, Lira L. B. Lazaro, Andrea F. Young, Rooney R. A. Coelho, Fábio J. M. Ortega, Carolina B. M. C. Hecksher, José R. Cardoso, João S. W. Ferreira, Pedro R. Jacobi, Arlindo P. Junior and Marcos S. Buckeridge.
The study, Assessing the Alignment of Brazilian Local Government Plans with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, employed natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence and statistical analysis to evaluate how these plans incorporate global priorities. Among the techniques used were topic modelling with Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), qualitative perceptual analysis by experts and the use of vector embeddings through OpenAI’s text-embedding-ada-002 model, enabling the measurement of semantic similarity between the texts of the government plans and the 169 SDG targets.
The objective of the study was to identify key themes in the government plans, explore patterns and trends, and assess alignment with the 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda, categorised into the social dimension (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 and 16), environmental dimension (SDGs 6, 13, 14 and 15) and economic dimension (SDGs 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12). The plans of ten candidates were analysed to examine the integration of global priorities into local policy proposals.
The findings indicate that alignment between the government plans and the SDGs was weak, particularly in the environmental and social domains. Environmental issues, in particular, showed minimal coverage: no party exceeded the 20% alignment threshold with SDG 13 (climate action), 14 (life below water) or 15 (life on land). Although “sanitation” appeared with some prominence, themes such as “decarbonisation” and “biome preservation” were virtually absent — a striking omission in light of the recent impacts of climate change in the state.
The analysis identified 19 priority themes in the plans, including education, health, sanitation, employment and public security, with variations across parties. Only four parties (PT, REP, PDT and PSDB) addressed all topics; others, such as the PCO, covered only four, with a strong concentration on “employment and income”.
The Workers’ Party (PT) presented the highest alignment with the SDGs, at 86.39%, followed by Republicanos (REP) at 56.21% and the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) at 53.85%. Even so, the distribution across the different goals was uneven. Furthermore, formal analysis of the documents revealed that most plans lacked basic structure (such as a table of contents, introduction or statistical references), suggesting that many proposals were drafted merely to comply with legal requirements, without a substantive commitment to the formulation of concrete policy guidelines.
The study concludes that more transparent and measurable government plans are needed, with stronger integration of the SDGs, particularly to address challenges such as climate change, natural disasters and infrastructure deficiencies.
Barriers such as limited technical knowledge of the SDGs, scarcity of resources and lack of political will were identified as obstacles to their incorporation. The authors suggest that future research should expand semantic analysis to other political documents and refine assessment methodologies, in order to bring local agendas closer to global commitments.
Author Profiles
Sylvestre Aureliano Carvalho holds a degree in Physics from the Federal University of Lavras (2013), a Master’s degree (2015) and a PhD (2019) in Applied Physics from the Federal University of Viçosa. He has experience working with mean-field models, including modelling with ordinary and partial differential equations applied to the spread of epidemics.
Lira Luz Benites Lázaro holds a PhD from the Earth System Science Center at the National Institute for Space Research (CST-INPE). She completed her Master’s and PhD at the Graduate Programme in Latin American Integration at the University of São Paulo (USP-PROLAM). She is an accredited professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC) and at the School of Mechanical Engineering (FEM) in the Graduate Programme in Energy Systems Planning at UNICAMP.
Andrea Ferraz Young holds a PhD in Agricultural Engineering, with specialisation in Environmental Management and Geosciences, and a degree in Architecture and Urbanism. Her work combines principles of urban planning and engineering with environmental science and geospatial data analysis.
Rooney Ribeiro Albuquerque Coelho holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Fortaleza (2013), a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Ceará (2015) and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Uberlândia (2019).
Fábio José Muneratti Ortega holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (2009), a Master’s degree in Digital Systems from the same institution (2013) and a PhD in Music Technology from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain (2022). He served as Lecturer and Researcher at Universitat Pompeu Fabra from 2016 to 2022.
Carolina Botelho Marinho da Cunha Hecksher holds a PhD in Political Science from IESP/UERJ, a Master’s degree in Sociology and Anthropology from UFRJ and a degree in Social Sciences from UFRJ. She is currently a research consultant at the International Labour Organization (ILO) and a political scientist at the Institute of Advanced Studies of USP, where she conducts postdoctoral research.
José Roberto Cardoso holds a degree in Electrical Engineering (Electrotechnics) from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (1974), and completed his Master’s (1979), PhD (1986) and Habilitation (1993) in Electrical Engineering at the same institution. He undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the Laboratoire d’Électrotechnique de Grenoble (France) from 1987 to 1988. He is currently Full Professor at the Polytechnic School of USP (EPUSP), coordinator of the Applied Electromagnetism Laboratory (LMAG), and served as Director of EPUSP from 2010 to 2014.
João Sette Whitaker Ferreira is Full Professor at the School of Architecture and Urbanism of USP (FAUUSP) and Director of FAUUSP (12/2022 to 12/2026). He holds degrees in Architecture and Urbanism (1990) and in Economics (1993), a Master’s degree in Political Science (1998), a PhD in Architecture and Urbanism (2003) and a Habilitation (2013), all from the University of São Paulo.
Pedro Roberto Jacobi holds degrees in Social Sciences (1973) and Economics (1972) from the University of São Paulo, a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (1976), and a PhD in Sociology from the University of São Paulo (1986). He is Habilitated in Education at USP.
Arlindo Philippi Junior holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Health and a PhD in Public Health (USP), a postdoctoral fellowship in Urban and Regional Studies (MIT, USA), and a Habilitation in Environmental Policy and Management (USP). He is Full Professor at the University of São Paulo.
Marcos Silveira Buckeridge is a biologist (1981), holds a Master’s degree in Molecular Biology from UNIFESP (1984) and a PhD in Plant Biochemistry (1994) from the University of Stirling, Scotland, UK. He was a Scientific Researcher at the São Paulo State Environmental Secretariat’s Institute of Botany for 20 years. In 2006 he joined USP, where he is currently Full Professor at the Institute of Biosciences.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Title: Assessing the Alignment of Brazilian Local Government Plans with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
Authors: Sylvestre A. Carvalho; Lira L. B. Lazaro; Andrea F. Young; Rooney R. A. Coelho; Fábio J. M. Ortega; Carolina B. M. C. Hecksher; José R. Cardoso; João S. W. Ferreira; Pedro R. Jacobi; Arlindo P. Junior; Marcos S. Buckeridge
Year of Publication: 2023
Available in: Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16
