Climate change presents the single biggest threat to development, and its widespread, unprecedented impacts disproportionately burden the poorest and most vulnerable. Urgent action to combat climate change and minimize its disruptions is integral to the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Selecting a goal

As a general rule, one to three or four goals will normally be appropriate for each solution. Select the SDG that applies to a primary effect of your solution, not a secondary effect.

The SDGs are not always easy to understand. The SDG Compass is an excellent guide for businesses.

Information about targets and progress can be found on the official SDG website. Learn more about SDG13 here.

What can you do?

Learn more about how your company can advance each of the SDGs here.

The phrase “sustainable development” was made popular in the 1987 report, Our Common Future, of the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development.

The Commission – chaired by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland – provided a definition of sustainable development that was used for the next 25 years:

“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Over time, the definition has evolved to better link the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic development, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability.

The SDGs provide a global framework for cooperation to address these three dimensions within an ethical framework.