Sustainable Development Goals




In September 2015, the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit adopted an international framework to guide development efforts, entitled ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development’. The SDG framework has a total of 17 goals, 169 targets and 244 indicators— 93 of which are environment related. The SDGs aim to measure the most pressing issues facing the planet, including the interactions between topics. In terms of the environmental dimension of development the SDGs cover natural resource management, climate change, water-related issues, marine issues, biodiversity and ecosystems, circular economy, environmentally sound management of chemicals and waste, and many other topics. UNEP is the Custodian for 25 of these SDG indicators – across SDG Goal 6, 8, 12, 14, 15 and 17. For these, UNEP has the specific mandate to develop SDG methodologies, training materials for countries and SDG data reporting mechanisms (more information on UNEP’s role is included in a short flyer here).