Under the consideration of different measures adopted by most United Nations (UN) members, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aim to address the main challenges related to social, economic and environmental issues. Numerous single indicators have been established to monitor progress toward sustainable development; however, the need for benchmarking the degree of sustainability of countries triggered the creation of the SDG Index, which originally compiled 77 indicators and has evolved to 99 at present. This research analyzes the suitability of applying this composite index for assessing the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda. The lack of information resulted in 60% of the SDG indicators being disregarded in the SDG Index. The scores obtained through the application of this index clustered UN countries according to specific geographic areas, highlighting the need for developing regional SDG Indices to emphasize the achievement of lower‐performing goals.

In order to respond to climatic change, many efforts have been made to reduce harmful gas emissions. According to energy policies, an important goal is the implementation of renewable energy sources, as well as electrical and oil combustion savings through energy conservation. This paper focuses on an extensive review of the technologies developed, so far, for central solar heating systems employing seasonal sensible water storage in artificial large scale basins. Among technologies developed since the late 70s, the use of underground spaces as an energy storage medium-Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES)-has been investigated and closely observed in experimental plants in many countries, most of them, as part of government programmes. These projects attempt to optimise technical and economic aspects within an international knowledge exchange; as a result, UTES is becoming a reliable option to save energy through energy conservation. Other alternatives to UTES include large water tanks and gravel-water pits, also called man-made or artificial aquifers. This implies developing this technology by construction and leaving natural aquifers

Asphalt pavements subject to solar radiation can reach high temperatures causing not only environmental problems such as the heat island effect on cities but also structural damage due to rutting or hardening as a result of thermal cycles. Asphalt solar collectors are doubly effective active systems: as they solve the previously mentioned problems and, moreover, they can harness energy to be used in different applications. The main findings of the existing research on asphalt solar collectors are gathered together in this review paper. Firstly, the main heat transfer mechanisms involved in the solar energy collection process are identified and the most important parameters and variables are presented. After analyzing the theoretical foundations of the heat transfer process, this review focuses on the types of studies carried out so far on asphalt's thermal behavior, different methodologies employed by other authors to study asphalt solar collectors and influence of the variables involved in thermal energy harvesting.

Several sustainable building rating systems were created worldwide during the last decades due to economic growth and the significance of environmental impact associated with the building industry. Similar infrastructure rating tools have started to be developed and implemented, being highly necessary to promote its development. Even though the existing sustainable infrastructure rating systems are focused on advanced economies, growing environmental concerns are increasing the need for new systems in the Developing World. This research analyses some of the mainstream infrastructure rating frameworks such as Envision (USA), Civil Engineering Environmental Quality (CEEQUAL) assessment (UK) and Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) Rating Tool (Australia) from the perspective of the Triple Bottom Line (economy, environment and society), in order to determine the effectiveness of their application in the context of the least developed countries. The analysis revealed that the three tools are biased towards the environmental dimension and are mainly oriented to developed countries. Consequently, the foundations on which these systems are based need to be further developed and enhanced to be of real relevance in poorer nations by balancing the weight of sustainable pillars, incorporating effective management guidelines and development goals set by United Nations declarations, and considering impacts beyond the single project framework.

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