The relationship between culture and sustainable development goal compliance at the municipal level

Abstract

This study assesses the role of culture in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the Spanish public sector, focusing on the influence of local government cultural spending and education levels on SDG compliance in municipalities. Cultural spending, considered as a percentage of total non‐financial local government spending, municipal education levels and SDG implementation indicators from the Sustainable Development Solutions Networks (SDSN)‐Spain are used in this research, which employs an ordinary least squares regression and two‐stage least squares analysis for robustness. The results suggest that higher levels of education correlate with SDG compliance, while increased spending on culture does not. Since the existing research about the impact of culture on the SDGs is limited, this study addresses this gap. It suggests that policymakers should promote culture and integrate sustainability into education to increase SDG awareness and implementation.