SDG-related projects
Can our planet meet the SDGs by 2030?
In 2020, the UN launched its Decade of Action aimed at ramping up progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 2030 target. But most metrics point to unconvincing progress: according to the SDGs 2020 Report, we are NOT on track to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) highlights 2 key questions that must be tackled in order to mobilize the SDGs
1. How to choose priorities: “low-hanging fruit” vs “reach for the stars”?
One of the perennial SDG debates is whether to prioritize “low-hanging fruit” i.e. those goals that are relatively easier to achieve (e.g. energy efficiency or food waste reduction)? Or should we instead use the SDGs to “reach for the stars” i.e. prioritize those more difficult, distant aims (e.g. climate change and biodiversity)?
2. How to tackle the environmental dimension of the SDGs?
So far, the de facto preference for “low-hanging fruit” means that we are failing to meet more complex SDGs such as greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity decline. None of the 2010 Aichi Biodiversity Targets were fully met by 2020, and problems proliferate related to deforestation, plastic waste and overfishing etc.