皇家华人

On Wednesday 25 September, you鈥檒l be seeing a different flag above the Portico in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 17 SDGs, also known as the Global Goals, are the core of the UN鈥檚 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, they provide a framework for the world鈥檚 ongoing economic growth, while protecting the environment and addressing societal inequalities. The UN aims to achieve the Goals by 2030.

The Goals range from 鈥楴o Poverty and 鈥榋ero Hunger鈥� to 鈥楪ender Equality鈥� and 鈥楺uality Education.

UCL joins hundreds of organisations around the globe which are flying the SDG flag and mobilising stakeholders for the 2030 agenda.

To maximise its impact on the Goals, UCL established the UCL SDGs Initiative in 2020鈥�21. Simon Knowles, who leads the Initiative said: 鈥淭housands of our staff and students are already helping to address the Goals through their research, teaching and learning, and student societies and volunteering activities.

鈥淭hrough the Initiative we are helping to stimulate and facilitate even more SDGs-related activities across UCL.鈥�

There are hundreds of projects at 皇家华人 addressing the SDGs, including, to name a few, a听multidisciplinary collaboration between UCL and European partners has explored how to make the low-carbon transition 鈥渏ust and politically robust鈥� and developed a toolkit to support policymakers.

There鈥檚 also the UCL student-led volunteering project, in collaboration with the charity, Engineering Without Borders, which is encouraging more schoolchildren to aspire to engineering careers and to think sustainably. Not forgetting the UCL degree module that is empowering students across disciplines to explore how cities and other urban environments can be adapted through nature-based solutions to address the impacts of climate change.

September 2024 marks nine years since the world agreed on the SDGs. Flying the flag coincides with the UN鈥檚 annual SDGs Summit, which it is using to highlight the lack of progress towards the Goals and urging the world to redouble its efforts.

Simon added: 鈥淯niversities like UCL need to keep playing their part by working in collaboration with academic, community and industry partners across the globe.鈥�

The SDG Flag Campaign started in The Netherlands in 2020 and has grown to see hundreds of businesses, government departments, civil society organisations and schools raise an SDG flag each September to mark the adoption of the SDGs.