The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all 193 members of the United Nations in 2015, bring together academia, government, business and civil society around a shared agenda for the next decade. The SDG Policy Initiative leverages the global salience of the SDGs to showcase the wide range of faculty research, centers and projects at the School of Global Policy and Strategy. Additionally, the Initiative is engaged in a number of programs that put the SDGs into action to guide and measure progress at all levels of government. From decarbonization plans and policies for the United States and for the San Diego region, to working with the government of Paraguay on implementing the SDGs as a framework for sustainable growth, to designing sustainable land-use tools for Mexico and the United States, the SDG Policy Initiative works to help achieve the ambitious goals of the SDGs with evidence-based solutions.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the world’s shared purpose, centered on the simple yet revolutionary principle of “leave no one behind”. Across the world, the SDGs have been embraced at all levels of society. Cities such as Los Angeles, Helsinki, Buenos Aires, national governments including Mexico and India as well as private companies like Qualcomm and Hilton have committed themselves to the shared goal of a sustainable and inclusive future, using the SDGs to guide and measure progress.
Having spent my career in research as well as working with governments around the world, I know that many of the solutions exist to achieve the SDGs, but too often the silos within academia and government limit opportunities to translate science into good policy. The SDG Policy Initiative uses the SDGs as a framework for bringing together policymakers and researchers to inform evidence-based solutions for a sustainable future. The SDGPI showcases the latest scientific contributions around the 17 SDGs at the School of Global Policy and Strategy, through its faculty and research centers. In addition, you will learn about a series of programs that put the SDGs into action to address interconnected challenges at global, national and local scales.
Across interrelated challenges such as poverty, discrimination, climate change and biodiversity loss, meeting the SDGs and achieving sustainable and inclusive growth more broadly will require bringing academia, governments, civil society, the private sector, and individuals together around the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals. These principles — sustainability with equity and justice at its core — have never been more urgent.
Director, SDG Policy Initiative, UC San Diego