What are the Sustainable Development Goals?

Whilst extreme poverty has been decreasing on a global level, the progress has begun to slow down, which means the UN is concerned that we are not on track to reach this goal by 2030. The target is to hit less than 3% of the world living in extreme poverty. Currently, we are projected to only hit 6%, meaning drastic action is required.

In 2018 8% of the world's workers still lived in extreme poverty with four billion people not receiving any form of social protection. There is a need to scale services addressing this issue in order to meet the UN’s goals.

Building a more sustainable future for the world has to include a reduction in poverty. Young workers are twice as likely to be living in extreme poverty, meaning as a world we are not adequately providing for the next generation.

Log in to read all the impact articles that impact SDG 1 No Poverty here.

This goal aims to better promote wellbeing and health amongst all age groups and has seen some encouraging results in the past few years such as reducing child mortality and fighting against disease. Global health is improving, but many areas require more attention and acceleration. Recent events have disrupted healthcare across the globe, threatening to reverse decades of improvements.

A great deal more work is needed to ensure better access to health care, with prevailing issues relating to pollution of the air, mental health, and sanitation all causing health and well-being issues globally. Businesses in particular have a strong part to play in promoting more sustainable practices which have a knock-on effect on global health, both for their workers and in the surrounding environment.

Join our community to read about the impact businesses have on SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being.

The heart of the goal - empowering women and girls and gender equality, has seen a strong movement toward positive outcomes (such as the decrease of practicing child marriage, genital mutilation, and improved gender equality laws), much work is left to do.

Ensuring that women across the globe are protected with essential laws and rights is a key part of achieving full gender equality. Addressing discriminating social norms, low-level political involvement, and other structural issues at play will be needed to reach this goal.

Sign-up to read all the analyses that impact SDG 5 Gender Equality here.

With this goal, aiming at giving access to reliable and sustainable energy sources to all, we have seen an increase in renewable energy usage – however, 800 million still do not have electricity and we require much greater ambitions and investments to achieve this goal, as well as the closely linked climate goal.

The effects of a lack of affordable and clean energy cannot be understated. Our global infrastructure relies on the production and supply of energy, making this affordable and renewable will help ensure a sustainable future for us all.

Read more SDG 7 here.

The ninth SDG targets building solid infrastructures which encourage innovation and are sustainable and inclusive – key drivers like transport and communication play a vital role here with the aim to support economic development through innovative solutions.

Nonetheless, investment in this sector remains below the global average requiring further support to embrace true sustainable development. Manufacturing growth has declined due to tariffs and global trade tensions, with additional challenges caused by a need to invest more in research and development.

Log in to read all the notes that impact SDG 9 here.

With the aim to make human settlements safe, inclusive and sustainable, this goal addresses living situations such as slums, access to transport, clean air and waste collection to name just a few topics.

However, recent data suggests many urban areas are growing faster than the populations themselves, which will have consequences when it comes to sustainability. In 2018 the share of urban populations living in slums rose to 24%, indicating a greater need for action to combat unsustainable growth in our urban settlements.

Log in to read all the impact articles that impact SDG 11 here.

The goal that often gets the most airtime, climate action, puts the spotlight on the increasing greenhouse emissions, climate change, and the associated impact. Despite the media coverage, the situation is not rosy.

Even with the Paris Agreement in place, suggesting a revitalized course toward achieving the goal, (signed back in 2016), drastic action is still required to mitigate greenhouse gases, in the form of finance, reforms, and much more. Current projections indicate that global temperatures may rise by up to 3.2°C by 2100, a situation that will see us enter an era of unrivaled devastation for biological life on Earth.

Read all the notes that impact SDG 13 here.

With deforestation often making the news, land degradation like desertification (which occurs largely due to deforestation, drought or agriculture) continues, and loss of biodiversity has increased, alongside other concerning issues like wildlife poaching and animal extinction.

Whilst protection of these vital areas of land has increased - many ecosystems are still suffering. The world continues to fall short on 2020 targets regarding halting biodiversity loss, with 31,000 species threatened with extinction. Forest areas, in particular, are continuing to decline due to agricultural expansion and deforestation, depriving many species of essential habitats.

Log in to read all the notes that impact SDG 15 here.

SDG 17 is all about how the goals will be achieved through partnerships, funding and initiatives. The world isn’t just the reserve of a few, the issues targeted by the SDGs affect every single person on the planet, from rich to poor, from privileged to deprived. By building effective partnerships that span the globe, the goal is to make us all invested in building a sustainable and fair future for the world and our environment.

However, issues have developed over recent years. ODA (Official Development Assistance – the funds given to help achieve sustainable development) has actually decreased, with poor alignments to sustainable development coming from private investment, a lot of work will be required to mobilise the goals ambitions at the right level.

Log in to read all the notes which impact SDG 17 here.