Flag raised in support of UN Sustainable Development Goals

This September will mark eight years since the world embraced the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

HR Wallingford is joining hundreds of businesses, government departments, and civil society organisations in a global movement to fly an SDG flag to spread awareness of the SDGs and mobilise stakeholders for the 2030 agenda. 

The SDGs, also known as the Global Goals, reflect a shared objective and ambition across all countries to end poverty and hunger everywhere, to combat inequalities within and among countries, to build peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, to protect human rights and promote gender equality of women and girls, and to ensure the lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources by 2030. 

The 17 Goals are supported by 169 targets and 232 indicators, enabling progress to be prioritised and tracked. 

In the UK, there have been some significant milestones towards the SDGs. In 2022, the UN Global Compact Network UK released Measuring Up 2.0, a multi-stakeholder report assessing the UK's performance against the SDGs and their Targets to understand how and where businesses, government, and other organisations should focus efforts for the remainder of this decade of action. 

The report found of the 132 Targets relevant to the domestic delivery of the SDGs, the UK is only performing well on 17% of them. It highlighted how persistent inequalities within and between communities in the UK mean that we continue to leave people and places behind. It is because of this. that the 2030 Agenda is more important than ever, and worldwide collaboration between governments, businesses, and civil society organisations essential.