Assessment of the degree of accounting for global sustainable development goals in the Strategy for Socio-Economic Development of the Rostov Region (the Russian Federation) until 2030

The United Nations General Assembly Resolution of 25 September 2015 “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” identified global sustainable development goals. In 2018, the Strategy for Socio-Economic Development of the Rostov Region until 2030 (Strategy-2030), also based on the principles of sustainable development, was approved, within which an independent set of 12 goals was proposed, grouped within the framework of economic, social and spatial policies. The author made an attempt to assess the degree to which the global goals of sustainable development are taken into account in the goal-setting system in Strategy-2030, as well as an attempt to identify the degree of such accounting as applied to the existing socio-economic and environmental situation in the Rostov Region. General scientific methods of logical and comparative analysis were applied, as well as ranking the goals to identify the most relevant ones. It was revealed that the least attention in Strategy-2030 was paid to the goals of sustainable development of the environment. At the same time, the achievement of spatial policy goals can encompass the achievement of the greatest number of global sustainable development goals in the Rostov Region. Based on the results of the study, some recommendations have been made on the use of spatial methods (clusters, growth poles, special economic zones, territories of priority development) as the most effective type of tools, further discussion of which will allow providing more detailed recommendations and suggesting specific mechanisms for achieving strategic goals using spatial methods.