Sustainability is today’s solution, not tomorrow’s problem

We are used to hearing about future projects, and commitments decades away to improve our world. Sustainability is what we do now. In 2015, the UN General Assembly set up the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

These Goals are broadly described by the mission statement:

"A blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all people and the world by 2030".

These are designed to be actionable and the progress is measurable. The first 16 of the Goals have targets, and each target has indicators, which measure the progress of the goal. The 17th Goal is focused on how the SDGs will be achieved.

Globally we are not doing well. Looking at current scores does not give the best indicator of the global achievement of the mission statement – we must look at trends. The picture below shows trends which indicate whether a country is on track to achieve SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) by 2030. This Goal looks at air quality, water quality, living conditions, and availability of public transport.

With our current trajectory, Australia and New Zealand will both not achieve this Goal. This is alarming, I’m sure that most people were not aware that we aren’t doing well in this space.

I encourage everyone to look at the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. I’ve personally begun to pointedly embed these in my personal and professional life.

 Image credit to: https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/map/goals/SDG11/trends