Sustainable Development Goals
That's what it's all about
- The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are political objectives of the United Nations.
- They take into account all three pillars of sustainability: social, ecological and economic.
- They came into force on January 1, 2016 with a term of 15 years (until 2030).
The changing earth
While some people only had a few rainy barbecues and wet feet to complain about, others lost everything they had built up in their lives in the summer of 2021. Devastating storms, floods and landslides hit Europe and, together with the pandemic situation, made for a season of horror. Although we got off relatively lightly in Switzerland, the numerous thunderstorms also flooded campsites and cellars here in Switzerland and left Gstaad with little mountain summer feeling. Unfortunately, there is little reason to hope that these meteorological capers will remain rare exceptions. According to renowned climate researchers, we will have to get used to such extreme weather situations for better or worse. Climatic conditions on earth are changing rapidly. And if we as a global community do not get our act together and do everything in our power to counteract global warming, we will soon be facing problems that we cannot even estimate today.
The 17 Development Goals
MDGs become SDGs
The drastic change in our habitat was already known in the year 2000. At that time, the global community agreed on eight so-called Millennium Development Goals, which were to be achieved by 2015. These included not only environmental sustainability, but also issues such as the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, primary education for all children and gender equality. Even though great efforts were made worldwide and some successes were celebrated, the majority of the Millennium Development Goals remained unachieved by 2015.
For this reason, these goals were completely revised and the 2030 Agenda was created – a roadmap for the future, so to speak. At the UN General Assembly in 2015, the member states agreed on a total of 17 follow-up goals, which include 169 sub-goals. They are called the “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs) and will run until 2030 – an extremely ambitious undertaking when you look at the list of SDGs (see below).
Impact Gstaad bases its activities on these 17 SDGs and offers a platform where people can connect with each other who have the vision and means to have a measurable sustainable impact on our region and the whole world. So that we and our descendants can enjoy more carefree summers again in the future. (nth)