Sustainable Development Goals explained

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are designed to build a more fair, greener and better world by 2030. Each of these 17 goals plays a crucial role in achieving them. In 2015, all 193 member countries of the United Nations (UN) adopted the SDGs. They now apply in all these countries and to all people living there. These are the 17 SDGs:

Source: Government of the Netherlands

Each member country of the UN works on the SDGs in a different form, and therefore one country may be a bit behind on a specific goal and more advanced on another. Need is to achieve all the set goals by 2030.

The goals have as their overarching themes education, health, fair jobs for all and protection of land, water and entire natural areas. The SDGs are all interconnected and paint a picture of a future beneficial to all and everything. Progress on one goal often means progress on another.

Where do we stand now?

The SDGs were set within the UN so that they could be achieved by 2030. However, there have been big setbacks in the development of the goals. The aftereffects of the corona pandemic and the war in Ukraine have had a major impact on the achievement of the SDGs. The 4 years under covid wiped out progress on poverty reduction, leaving an additional 93 million people in extreme poverty worldwide.

And not only did poverty and hunger continue to increase, but the effects of climate change also became more visible. Climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution cannot be separated. And on top of that, increasing water stress is also strongly related to these crises. This is also reflected in the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and in the new objectives of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) adopted in December 2022.

Sustainable Development Goals in the Netherlands

SDG Netherlands is a network of different organisations working towards the goals within the Netherlands. They work here to achieve the SDGs while supporting other parties abroad who are also working on the goals. SDG Netherlands is trying to lower the barrier for companies to work on the goals. They have done this by hanging 169 more sub-goals under the 17 goals by providing concrete manuals. This way, any company can start project SDG right away!

Check the SDGs per green project on Productpine

In our project overview, you can see for each project which SDGs are being worked on. This is often a combination of SDGs focused on people and on conservation and/or improvement of nature.

Do you want or does the company you work at (or own) also wants to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the Netherlands or abroad? Then check out the SDG NL site and see in which area you can provide support. Keep an eye on our other blogs for more green news.


Sources:

• https://sdgs.un.org/goals
• https://www.sdgnederland.nl