The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were set by the United Nations in 2015 to eradicate poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and disease. The goals are set with measurable targets and clear deadlines for improving the quality of lives of people around the world. The objective is to achieve development and satisfy the needs of today without compromising on the ability of future generations to satisfy their needs.
The SDGs are an ambitious commitment by the world’s leaders to ensure that people across the world enjoy peace and prosperity while achieving environmental sustainability. They address the lurking challenge of climate change and address issues relevant to clean energy, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth, sustainable cities, responsible consumption and production, life below water and on land. All these indicators are extremely crucial given the direction in which we are progressing. Discounting these would mean we are overlooking the interdependency we have with our environment and the limited resources it has to support us.
Figure 1: The Sustainable Development Goals
Enacting CSR programs and policies can result in many benefits ranging from better employee retention and engagement to greater reduction in costs. The immediate societal impact that comes from engaging in CSR programs automatically gives businesses a competitive advantage. With great socially responsible campaigns comes greater recognition and an increase in the intangible value of the company. This increase in awareness generates interest not only amongst members of the community, but also amongst current and potential employees and consumers.
Though significant advances were made in the period of MDG’s and there was considerable reduction of MMR, IMR amongst women and children, increased school enrolments and reduction of poverty in developing countries, it was felt that these indicators alone were not sufficient to capture the problems we as a civilisation face today. There was a need to include more parameters which also capture the human interaction with nature and its inter-relatedness. The SDG’s were a step forward, begging global consensus on issues ranging from climate change to gender equality, the unifying thread throughout the 17 goals and their 169 targets being the commitment to ending poverty: “Eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development,” notes the agenda’s preamble.
The SDG’s are an ambitious commitment by the world’s leaders to ensure that people across the world enjoy peace and prosperity and also achieve environmental sustainability by 2030. The goals not only focus on the issues from where the MDG’s left, but go on to address the lurking challenge of climate change that we confront today covering issues such as clean energy, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth, sustainable cities, responsible consumption and production, life below water and on land. All these indicators are extremely crucial given the direction in which we are progressing, discounting these would mean we are overlooking the interdependency we have with our environment and the limited resources it has to support us.
Figure 2: The Sustainable Development Goals