What
In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by 193 of the world’s countries. The 17 goals are a collective call to action for a global partnership within public, private and social sectors. Indicator data for the goals can be found here: https://sdg-tracker.org/
The United Nations report on SDG2020 can be downloaded here: https://www.unsdsn.org/
The 2020 report, by 6 Analysts (Indexers, Experts and a Professor; all men) expressed that “Covid‑19 will have severe negative impacts on most SDGs” which was also reported to have been tracked from 2016. So, in 2020 what can we do?
How
Stay optimistic and fuelled to empower the people that need it and push sectors to do their bit. If you don’t feel you can contribute to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, try researching whether within your local community, in the brands you use and chain businesses you frequent that they are taking as much responsibility not just for starting positive action but stopping harmful action.
As a small brand, you can incorporate some features to your service that allows your customers or audience to choose whether to donate with their transaction or through the income generated by their streaming views or support.
Making it publicly known how you are playing a part in the big picture is also powerful because (assuming you understand how trends work) it sparks encouragement for others to do the same. Transparency instils a reassuring trust and kinship.
As a civilian, staying informed and educated on where your money goes with whomever you donate to is a wise decision. During the recent events with the global racial outrage and Black Lives Matter movement, floods of donations into millions of pounds and dollars didn’t always find their way to those who it was intended for. As many companies who organised the online support and the charity foundations who received the money were criticised for mis-allocation of funds.
Try not to let these things put you off the cause, the movement and the goals towards equality, sustainability and justice. The world needs every one of us to do the best we can!
Why
The goals are presented in order of average indicator trend assessments, from best to worst – make of it what you will, as we hope ‘Peace, justice and strong institutions’ makes it’s way to the (aptly named) White House.
The report for this data reveals:
“All of the indicators for SDG 16 ‘Peace, justice and strong institutions’ show clearly favourable trends for the EU over the past five years, putting the goal on top of the ranking.
Life in the EU has become safer over the past few years, as deaths due to homicide or assault and the perceived occurrence of crime, violence and vandalism in European neighbourhoods have both fallen considerably.
Furthermore, government expenditure on law courts has increased, as has the perceived independence of the justice system.
In addition, citizen’s confidence in EU institutions — the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Central Bank — has grown considerably since 2014.”
The full report for the progress of the SDG’s can be read here.
Summary
This brief article, though vaguely cavilling at times, was written as a personal take on knowing where we stand, identifying the most pressing sustainability challenges and critically examining our performance is essential if we are to ensure a sustainable Europe in a sustainable world.
If you’re not convinced you have a part to play in the forwarding of global sustainability, here’s a lovely ‘TED Ed’ video on the oh-so-villiainised word, power.
Posie Lombardi Rodriguez 