Last week ACEVO hosted a webinar with Steve Kenzie, executive director, UN Global Compact Network UK and Peter Gilheany, director, Forster Communications, looking at why we need to refocus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The increasing impact of climate change, the global pandemic and now the energy crisis all show why action for the environment or society must not be developed in isolation – they are fundamentally interlinked and need to be tackled together.
Whether our organisation deals with a specific issue, location or group, we can use the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to advance our own agendas, find new partnerships and deliver real impact for people and planet.
What is sustainable development?
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The Brundtland Report, 1987
The Brundtland Report set in motion a chain of events, conferences, research and objectives which led us to the arrival of the UN SDGs in 2015. The SDGs are a collection of 17 interlinked UN goals acting as a shared blueprint to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities, combat catastrophic climate change, and protect our natural environment by 2030. Each goal includes comprehensive sub goals and indicators showing how we can achieve these goals and measure ourselves against targets.
As Steve said, they are an “extraordinary achievement of diplomacy” – every single UN country has signed up to them and is measuring their progress against them.
SDGs in the UK
The UK Global Compact Network’s Measuring Up 2.0 Report took a comprehensive look into how the UK is doing against the SDGs, with chapters reporting on each of the 17 goals. Sadly, we’re behind where we should be.
There have been some positives. Since 2018, 23 Targets have improved, including those relating to climate, sustainable agriculture and food waste.
However, the UK is only performing well on 17% of the targets relevant to the domestic delivery of the Goals, with 64% performing inadequately and 11% poorly. On top of that, since 2018, 18 Targets have actually regressed, particularly losing ground in areas relating to poverty and hunger. This is before we take into account the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, which we can only assume will have had further negative impacts.
We need to see more action if we are to deliver on these goals. While the UK was actively involved in the original negotiations of the SDGs, changes to domestic policy in the years since has seen them slide down the Government’s agenda. While relevant across all UK Government departments, we still aren’t seeing them properly reflected in policy. Their absence is a missed opportunity to address systemic issues holistically.
Why are the SDGs important to civil society?
As voluntary organisations, we can pull on the SDG levers, to help influence policy and behaviour change and support the UK in achieving a more sustainable future.
The SDGs matter to the people that matter to us. Maybe those people are government, who we are trying to influence from a policy standpoint, or businesses who we want to collaborate with. These are organisations who have made commitments and will be being held to account.
From here we can clearly see where rhetoric and targets are diverging from action and progress. This creates the opportunity for us to step in and position ourselves as solutions providers, open the door to new conversations and start driving change. There’s a unique opportunity to find the sweet spot between your issues and their goals, nurturing new collaborations and partnerships.
Secondly, because these goals are so comprehensive and interdependent, they are great ways to bring your cause into wider discussions. When it comes to causes and issues, some are more or less fashionable at different times. What the SDGs show is just how interdependent these issues are and therefore just how important holistic solutions are.
How you can use the SDGs to further your cause
The SDGs are already a powerful framework for the most pressing issues facing people and planet. They also highlight just how interdependent our biggest issues are. By consciously adopting their language, data and benchmarking, we have a powerful and internationally recognised narrative to work from.
By identifying which of the goals are most relevant to your organisation and consciously using the language and framing, there is huge opportunity to position yourself and your relevance to the people that matter most to you. This might mean looking at how a region or nation is doing in each different area and using it as a powerful pivot to drive the change you want to see.
This could also open the door to some interesting and even unexpected partnerships, collaborations and funding. The interconnected nature of the goals could help you find common objectives from unexpected places and work together to address the biggest systemic issues we are facing.
ACEVO members can watch the recording of the webinar.
