Sustainable Development Goals – Quo Vadis, Cities of the World?

G Venkatesh


Department of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden – 65188 (Sweden)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3347-7262

Abstract

The United Nations unveiled a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015, with 169 targets and a little over 230 indicators. This was a sequel to the Millennium Development Goals whose remit ended in 2015. Challenges lie ahead for governments around the world – national, provincial and municipal – to adapt the targets and indicators to effect a meaningful transition towards sustainable development by 2030. Cities are where the battle for sustainable development will be won or lost – they contribute 80% of the global GDP, and account for 70% each of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. With over two-thirds of the global population likely to live in cities by 2060, this is more than a cliché. A clutch of sustainable cities makes a sustainable province; a clutch of sustainable provinces makes a sustainable country, and it follows that several sustainable countries learning and sharing and helping other countries, will make for a sustainable world in the 21st century and further on into the future. While moving forward, trade-offs and complementarities must not be forgotten. Often, there are serendipitous benefits when complementarities which exist are not factored in, but the trade-offs if forgotten may end up robbing Peter to pay Paul. Despite the interregnum brought about by the Corona Virus pandemic in 2020, the world will be getting up, dusting itself clean and moving ahead in the next decade towards the SDGs set for year-2030.


Keywords:

Sustainable Development Goals, Millennium Development Goals, Targets, Indicators, Urban sustainability

ALLEN C., METTERNICHT G., WIEDMANNN T., 2018, Initial progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) -A review of evidence from countries, in: Sustainability Science, 13, p. 1453-1467.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0572-3   Google Scholar

BARTLEBY, 2019, Second thoughts, in: The Economist, October 12, 2019, Page 61, The Economist Newspapers Limited, London, United Kingdom.
  Google Scholar

CONVENTION FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, 2019, Collection methodology for key performance indicators for smart sustainable cities, United 4 Smart Sustainable Cities, https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/hlm/documents/Publications/U4SSC-CollectionMethodologyforKPIfoSSC-2017.pdf (1.09.2020).
  Google Scholar

HEEKS R., 2016, Examining ‘Digital Development’: The Shape of Things to Come?, in: Development Informatics Working Paper no. 64.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3431739   Google Scholar

HICKEL J., 2019, The contradiction of the sustainable development goals: Growth versus ecology on a finite planet, in: Sustainable Development, 27(5), p. 873-884.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1947   Google Scholar

JONES P., WYNN M., HILLIER D., COMFORT D., 2017, The Sustainable Development Goals and Information and Communication Technologies, in: Indonesian Journal of Sustainability Accounting and Management, 1(1), p. 1-15.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.28992/ijsam.v1i1.22   Google Scholar

KALLIO TJ., NORDBERG P., AHONEN A., 2007, Rationalising Sustainable Development – a critical treatise, in: Sustainable Development, 15, p. 41-51.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.292   Google Scholar

KLOKE-LESCH A., 2018, Why is the EU failing to champion the SDGs?, in: Journal of International Relations and Sustainable Development, 12, p. 144-159.
  Google Scholar

LAFORTUNE G., FULLER G., SCHMIDTTRAUB, G., ZOETEMAN, K., MUIDER R., DAGEVOS J., 2019, SDG Index and Dashboard report – European cities, Sustainable Development Solutions Network – A Global Initiative for the United Nations and the Brabant Centre for Sustainable Development (Telos), https://www.sdgindex.org/reports/sdg-index
  Google Scholar

-and-dashboards-report-for-european-cities/ (1.09.2020).
  Google Scholar

LYNCH A., LOPRESTI A., FOX C., 2019, The 2019 US Cities Sustainable Development Report. Sustainable Development Solutions Network – A Global Initiative for the United Nations, https://www.sustainabledevelopment.report/reports/2019-us-cities-sustainable-development-report/ (1.09.2020).
  Google Scholar

NILSSON M., GRIGGS D., VISBECK M., 2016a, Map the interactions between Sustainable Development Goals, in: Nature, 534, p. 320-322.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/534320a   Google Scholar

NITI AAYOG, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, 2018, SDG India Index – Baseline report 2018, https://niti.gov.in/content/sdg-india-index-baselinereport-2018 (1.09.2020).
  Google Scholar

PRADHAN P., RYBSKI D., KROPP J., 2017, A systematic study of sustainable development goal (SDG) interactions. Earth’s, in: Future, 5, p. 1169-1179.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/2017EF000632   Google Scholar

QUENTAL N., LOURENCO JM., DA SILVA FN., 2010, Sustainable development policy: goals, targets and political cycles, in: Sustainable Development, 19(1), p. 15-29.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.416   Google Scholar

ROCKSTRÖM J., STEFFEN W., NOONE K., PERSSON Å., CHAPIN FS., LAMBIN E., LENTON T., SCHEFFER M., FOLKE C., SCHELLNHUBER HJ., NYKVIST B., DE WIT C., HUGHES T., VAN
  Google Scholar

DER LEEEUW S., RODHE H., SORLIN S., SNYDER PK., CONSTANZA R., SVEDIN U., FALKENMARK M., KARLBERG L., CORELL R., FABRY V., HANSEN J., WALKER B., LIVERMAN D., RICHARDSON K., CRUTZEN P., FOLEY J., 2009, Planetary boundaries: Exploring the safe operating space for humanity, in: Ecology and Society, 14(2), p. 1-33.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03180-140232   Google Scholar

SCOTT L., MCGILL A., 2018, SDG Reporting Challenge 2018: From promise to reality – Does business really care about the SDGs? Pricewaterhouse Coopers, https://www.pwc.com/sdgreportingchallenge, (1.09.2020).
  Google Scholar

SSE, UK, 2018, Creating value in a sustainable way – SSE plc Sustainability Report 2018, https://sse.com/media/522476/SSE-plc-Sustainability-Report-2018.
  Google Scholar

pdf (1.09.2020).
  Google Scholar

STEFFEN W., RICHARDSON K., ROCKSTRÖM J., CORNELL SE., FETZER I., BENNET EM., BIGGS R., CARPENTER SR., DE VRIES W., DE WIT CA., FOLKE C., GERTEN D., HEINKE J.,
  Google Scholar

MACE GM., PERSSON LM., RAMANATHAN V., REYERS B., SÖRLIN S., 2015, Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet, in: Science, 347(6223), p. 736.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1259855   Google Scholar

THE ECONOMIST, October 19, 2019, Trade and emissions – Out of sight, Page 70, in: The Economist Newspapers Limited, London, UK.
  Google Scholar

THE ECONOMIST, November 30, 2019, Companies and society – on purpose, Page 57, in: The Economist Newspapers Limited, London, UK.
  Google Scholar

THE ECONOMIST, September 21, 2019, Climate change – A warmer Russia, Pages 27-28, in: The Economist Newspapers Limited, London, United Kingdom
  Google Scholar

WORLD BUSINESS COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, 2018, Chemical Sector SDG Roadmap, https://www.wbcsd.org/Programs/People/Sustainable-Development-Goals/Resources/Chemical-Sector-SDG-Roadmap (1.09.2020).
  Google Scholar

WRIGHT H., REEVES J., HUQ S., 2016, Impact of climate change on LDCs : are the SDGs possible? IIED Briefing, May, http://pubs.iied.org/17298IIED, (1.09.2020).
  Google Scholar

ZINKERNAGEL R., EWANS J., NEIJ L., 2018, Applying the SDGs to cities: Business-as-usual or a new dawn?, in: Sustainability, 10,p. 3201.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093201   Google Scholar

ZONDERVAN R., 2017, The scientific and technological community in the Sustainable Development Goal process, in: Environmental Scientist, 26(3), p. 34-38.
  Google Scholar

Download


Published
2021-01-04

Cited by

Venkatesh, G. (2021). Sustainable Development Goals – Quo Vadis, Cities of the World?. Problemy Ekorozwoju, 16(1), 171–179. https://doi.org/10.35784/pe.2021.1.18

Authors

G Venkatesh 

Department of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden – 65188 Sweden
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3347-7262

Statistics

Abstract views: 29
PDF downloads: 14