Importance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sustainability reporting and sustainable living

The United Nations put forth a new of set of 17 universal goals, known as “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” to address the environmental, social and economic challenges across the globe, which was adopted by 193 countries of UN General Assembly in 2015. These SDGs were built on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which was started as a global effort to reduce extreme poverty, child mortality, HIV/AIDS and other diseases, etc.

In addition to MDGs, the SDGs also include issues such as, natural resource management, sustainable consumption and production, effective institutions, good governance, the rule of law and peaceful societies. These 17 SDGs are interdependent and have 169 targets and 232 approved indicators to measure the compliance. All the countries have a shared responsibility towards achieving the SDGs’ target by 2030 and have a significant role to play locally, nationally as well as globally.

Since the adoption of the SDGs, there have been many positive initiatives. Many countries have started incorporating the goals into their national budgets, plans/strategies and have set up coordinating structures for coherent implementation of goals across the sectors. Particularly, the private sectors have begun to move away from their business-as-usual models to eco-friendly businesses by adopting the goals in their policies/strategies and sustainability reporting.

SDGs will act as a compass, aligning the countries’ plans with their global commitments. To achieve the SDGs target, the countries will require substantial resources, sustainable development policies/plans, financing strategies, etc. The engagement of governments, civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders will effectively contribute to the realisation of the SDG goals.

Sustainable living is nothing but living a socially responsible life by following some good habits such as saving water, avoiding plastics, minimalizing resources, using eco-friendly products,  reducing possible emissions (less travel, low electricity usage), planting trees and encouraging social responsibility and volunteering and creating awareness about SDGs.