In September 2021 the Welsh Government published a report focusing on how Welsh research contributed to the UN sustainable development goals from 2010 to 2019 measured against UK and Global comparators.

The report assesses the relative performance of Welsh research outputs related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the past decade. This builds on the commitment made by the Welsh Government in 2015 to contribute to meeting the SDGs. In the same year the Well-being of Future Generations Act (Wales) was passed which aims to position Wales on a sustainable path and is a pioneering approach.

Although Wales is a comparatively small country it plays a strong role in global SDG-related research with almost one-third of Welsh research relating to the SDGs and its citation impact is the highest of all comparators. Wales is also a collaborative partner with around half of Wales' publications during this period published with international partners.