First Sustainable Development Goal

Like in many other European countries, the temperature record in the Netherlands was broken in the summer of 2019. In the city Gilze and Rijen it became 40,7 °C. Even more remarkable: this was two degrees above the old record, 38,6 °C measured on 23 august 1944!  Across the world, the weather becomes increasingly weirder, and above all, warmer. To stop this climate change, a world-wide transition to a so-called circular economy is needed. A definition to measure the ‘circularity’ of products and services is however missing. An increasing number of companies say they are on a mission to become 100 % circular, but what they mean remains unclear!

On March 31, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network Youth (SDSN Youth) unveils its first-ever Global Youth Innovation and Global SDG Impact Awards, which aim to recognize, showcase, support and mobilize outstanding solutions that are advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  Why launch the Awards?  It has been almost seven years since the United Nations unanimously adopted the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. However, we are “tremendously off-track” to achieve the SDGs:  0 countries remain on track to meet all of the goals, 43 years behind schedule to achieve the goals, 2.5 trillion annual financing gap that needs to be closed.  During this time, SDSN Youth has been mobilizing young people worldwide and has witnessed the creativity, innovation and passion of young people who are eager to create change for a sustainable future. Many of them are already developing and even running solutions that address one or more of the SDGs. What they lack is support to scale their efforts to bring about more impactful change.