The Sustainable Development Goals
At Holden & Partners, we are working towards a more sustainable future. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations provide a powerful and urgent call to action across all aspects of international development ranging from ending poverty, to tackling climate change, to creating equal opportunities by 2030. 1 Most powerfully of all, they bring us not only the vision, but the roadmap for reaching a sustainable future.
You can find out more about each goal here:
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NO POVERTY
End poverty in all its forms everywhere. 2
a. The issues
- The World Bank defines ‘extreme poverty’ as living on less than $1.90 per person per day. It is estimated that almost a billion people (c.10% of the world’s population) live on less than this amount. 3
- Although this percentage has been falling steadily over time, the pandemic and the fallout will slow down the decline. An additional 119-124 million people were pushed back into extreme poverty in 2020. 4
- 1 out of 5 children lives in extreme poverty. The lack of education, nutrition, etc, in childhood, will trap them in this vicious circle of poverty.
b. The targets
- Eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere.
- Reduce at least half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
- Ensure that all have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership of land and property, natural resources, financial services, etc.
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ZERO HUNGER
End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. 5 6
a. The issues
- Between 720 and 811 million people in the world faced hunger in 2020. These figures have been rising since 2014.
- Excluding the effects of the pandemic, around 230 million children suffer from malnutrition.
- Wasting – a life-threatening form of malnutrition, affected an estimated 45.4 million children under age 5 in 2020.
b. The targets
- End hunger and ensure access by all people.
- End all forms of malnutrition and set internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children by 2025.
- Double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers.
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GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all, at all ages. 7 8
a. The issues
- Despite a decade of progress, 5.2 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2019.
- In 2019, 1.7 million new HIV cases were reported, 10 million people fell ill with tuberculosis, and 409 thousand deaths due to malaria were reported worldwide.
- Over 700 thousand suicides were reported globally in 2019.
b. The targets
- Reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 births.
- End preventable deaths of new-borns and children under 5 years of age.
- End the epidemic of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
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QUALITY EDUCATION
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.9 10
a. The issues
- In 2019, only 59% of children of grade three age were proficient in reading.
- In the same year, only 53% completed secondary school.
- Many schools continue to lack basic school infrastructure, with more than a fifth lacking access to basic drinking water, and 1 in 4 did not have electricity.
b. The targets
- Ensure all children complete quality primary and secondary education.
- Substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, particularly in the least developed countries.
- Ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education.
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GENDER EQUALITY
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. 11 12
a. The issues
- Nearly 1 in 3 (736 million) have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence at least once since the age of 15.
- In the next decade, 110 million girls are projected to become child brides.
- On a typical day, women spend about 2.5 times as many hours on unpaid domestic work and care as men.
b. The targets
- End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
- Eliminate all harmful practices, such as forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
- Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life.
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CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.13 14
a. The issues
- In 2020, 2 billion people lacked safely managed drinking water, including 771 million who were without even basic drinking water.
- 2.3 billion people live in water-stressed countries.
- Freshwater ecosystems are rapidly changing. One-fifth of the world’s river bases are experiencing either rapid increases or decreases in surface water area.
b. The targets
- Achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.
- Improve water quality by reducing pollution.
- Increase water-use efficiency, addressing water scarcity.
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AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY
Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.15 16
a. The issues
- At current rates, 660 million people will still be without electricity in 2030.
- 2.6 billion people still use dangerous and inefficient cooking systems.
- International financial flows to developing countries in support of clean and renewable energy still lag behind.
b. The targets
- Ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services.
- Double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency.
- Increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global mix.
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DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all.17 18
a. The issues
- In 2020, 8.8% of global working hours were lost (relative to the fourth quarter of 2019), equivalent to 255 million full-time jobs.
- In the same year, the number of unemployed people reached 220 million.
- Youth and women were especially hard to hit, with employment losses of 8.7% and 5% respectively, in 2020.
b. The targets
- Sustain per capita economic growth, in particular, at least 7% GDP growth per annum in the least developed countries.
- Strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and expand access to financial services for all.
- By 2030, implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture.
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INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation. 19
a. The issues
- Covid-19 was particularly detrimental to global manufacturing, resulting in a drop in production by 6.8% in 2020.
- Increased investment in research and development (R&D) is essential to finding solutions for crises such as Covid-19.
- Almost 300 million out of 520 million rural dwellers lack good access to roads in 25 countries.
b. The targets
- Double industry’s share of employment and GDP in the least developed countries (LDCs).
- Increase the number of R&D workers per 1 million people and public and private research and development spending.
- Provide support to those counties that lack sustainable and resilient infrastructure.
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REDUCED INEQUALITIES
Reduce inequality within and among countries. 20
a. The issues
- The pandemic is likely to reverse the falling income inequality seen since the financial crisis.
- The proportion of the global population who are refugees has more than doubled since 2010.
- In 2020, 4,186 deaths and disappearances were recorded on migratory routes worldwide.
b. The targets
- Achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40% of the population at a rate higher than the national average.
- Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all and eliminate discriminatory laws, policies and practices.
- Facilitate safe migration and mobility of people via well-managed migration policies.
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SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. 21
a. The issues
- The majority of the more than 1 billion slum dwellers reside in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Only half of the world’s urban population have convenient access to public transport.
- 156 countries have developed national urban policies but only half are in the implementation stage.
b. The targets
- Ensure access to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums.
- Provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all.
- Substantially increase the number of cities implementing integrated policies towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change and resilience to disasters.
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RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.22
a. The issues
- The global ‘material footprint’ increased by 70% between 2000 and 2017.
- Electronic waste continues to proliferate and is not responsibly disposed of.
- Despite progress, fossil fuel subsidies continue to threaten the movement towards renewables.
b. The targets
- Implement sustainable consumption and production plan across all counties and reduce waste through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.
- Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices.
- Achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
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CLIMATE ACTION
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.23
a. The issues
- 2020 global average temperate is 1.2 degrees above pre-industrial baseline, woefully off-track to stay at or below the 1.5-degree target.
- Climate finance increased by 10% from 2015-2016 to 2017-2018, reaching an annual average of $48.7 billion.
- 125 of 154 developing countries are formulating and implementing national climate adaptation plans.
b. The targets
- Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
- Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning.
- Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
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LIFE BELOW WATER
Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. 24
a. The issues
- Over 3 billion people rely on oceans for their livelihoods and the sustainability of them are under severe threat.
- Over half of the marine key biodiversity areas are not protected.
- On average, only 1.2% of national research budgets are allocated for ocean science.
b. The targets
- Prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution.
- Enhance the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law.
- End overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans to restore fish stocks.
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LIFE ON LAND
Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.25
a. The issues
- 37,400 species across the world are threatened with extinction.
- Progress to safeguard key biodiversity areas has stalled over the last 5 years.
- The world has lost 100 million hectares of forest in two decades.
b. The targets
- Promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, mountains, wetlands, drylands and freshwater ecosystems.
- Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and prevent the extinction of threatened species.
- Mobilize significant resources from all sources and at all levels to finance sustainable forest management.
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PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS
Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. 26
a. The issues
- 2020 saw the first increase in two decades of child labour to 160 million.
- In 2020, the killings of 331 human rights defenders were reported in 32 countries.
- Bribery is at least five times more likely in low-income countries than in high-income countries.
b. The targets
- End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.
- Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.
- Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all and substantially reduce corruption and bribery.
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PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS
Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development. 27
a. The issues
- Net Official Development Assistance (ODA) was short of the target of 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI).
- Nearly half of the global population are still not online despite the need for connectivity.
- Foreign Direct Investment dropped by up to 40% in 2020 compared to 2019 levels.
b. The targets
- Developed countries implement their ODA commitments, including the commitment by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7% of GNI to developing countries and 0.15-0.2% of GNI to least developed countries.
- Assist developing countries in attaining long-term debt sustainability through coordinated policies.
- Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the SDGs.
Taking positive action
For Holden & Partners, these SDGs not only inspire us, but inform our work and lives. Since we started in 2003, we have sought out opportunities to contribute to the environment and society, both in how we operate as a company as well as with investments.
As individuals, we can all help achieve the targets. That might be through fundraising activities, spreading the word through social media, or even getting our hands dirty with voluntary work. Perhaps one of the easiest changes we can make is our investment choices.
For investments, we no longer have to compromise performance for sustainability. 28 Take Ninety One’s Global Environment Fund for instance, which features in many of our models. Over 30% of this fund’s revenues are contributing to SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). This is compared to the iShares World Equity Index Fund, a comparable ‘benchmark’ fund, which only contributes 2% of its revenues to both SDG 7 and 13 respectively. 29
By choosing to invest your money in sustainable funds such as these, you are making a valuable contribution towards achieving the SDGs by 2030.
2. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal1
3. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2016/06/08/ending-extreme-poverty
4. https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/ending-poverty
5. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal2
6. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/goal-02/
7. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3
8. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/goal-03/
9. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4
10. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/goal-04/
11. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal5
12. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/goal-05/
13. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal6
14. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/goal-06/
15. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal7
16. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/goal-07/
17. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal8
18. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/goal-08/
19. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal9
20. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal10
21. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11
22. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12
23. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13
24. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal14
25. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal15
26. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal16
27. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal17
29. https://worthstone.co.uk/impact-portal/impact-investments/