Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goals
The 2030 Agenda was adopted at a United Nations summit in September 2015. It is the roadmap for sustainable development of the planet, addressing emerging and developing countries as well as industrialized nations. At the heart of the 2030 Agenda is an ambitious set of 17 goals, the Sustainable Development Goals, to be implemented by 2030. They call for sustainable development at the environmental, social and economic levels. In this way, they show how diverse the professional approaches to the topic of sustainability are and offer people with a wide range of interests a chance to participate in the discourse.
The 17 goals focus on the following principles for action:
- The dignity of man
- Protection of the planet
- Promoting prosperity for all
- Peacebuilding
- Building global partnerships
What are the 17 goals?
1. No poverty
End poverty in all its forms and everywhere.
2. No hunger
End hunger, achieve food security and better nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.
3. Health and welfare
Ensure a healthy life for all people of all ages and promote their well-being.
4. Quality education
Ensure inclusive, equitable, and quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
5. Gender equality
Achieve gender equality and empower all people.
6. Clean water and sanitary facilities
Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
7. affordable and clean energy
Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and timely energy for all.
8. Decent work and economic growth
Promote lasting, broad-based and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Build resilient infrastructure, promote broad-based and sustainable industrialization, and support innovation.
10. Less inequality
Reduce inequality within and between countries.
11. Sustainable cities and communities
Making cities and settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
12. Responsible consumption and production patterns
Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
13. Climate protection measures
Take immediate action to address climate change and its impacts.
14. Life under water
Conserve and sustainably use oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
15. Life on land
Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, manage forests sustainably, combat desertification, end and reverse land degradation, and end biodiversity loss.
16. Peace, justice and strong institutions
Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.
17. Partnerships to achieve the goals
Strengthen the means of implementation and breathe new life into the sustainable development with new life.
How is the implementation of the SDGs going?
In 2020, five years after the launch of the 2030 Agenda, an initial assessment can be made that reflects much criticism. Although there is a lot of talk about the SDGs, too little energy is put into their implementation. That’s what the 2019 SDG Report shows. It says that a few countries, including Sweden and Finland, for example, are close to 75% compliance with the UN targets, but not a single country is yet on track to meet all targets by 2030. It is precisely the group of the twenty most important industrialized and emerging countries (G20), i.e. countries such as the USA, Russia, China or Germany, that are responsible for half of the global implementation gaps for achieving the goals and are also responsible for extreme costs in third countries due to their living standards and consumption. The authors of the report see some of the greatest need to catch up in Goal 12 (sustainable consumption) and Goal 13 (climate protection measures).Especially among the OECD countries, which include Germany, France and the USA. Another point of criticism is the discrepancy between hunger and malnutrition on the one hand and overproduction and waste of food on the other. According to the authors, one third of the world’s food ends up in garbage cans or is disposed of unused, even though more than 800 million people are considered undernourished(12).
In order to be able to implement the 2030 Agenda in Germany, the German government drew up the Sustainability Strategy in 2016, which was last updated in 2018.