The Local Government Association and UKSSD launch a guide to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Councils.
The guide aims to boost councils efforts to achieve the SDGs.
Read more about Cheltenham Festival tips at the 2024 Festival here.
The UN’s 2030 agenda for SDG’s, adopted by all UN member states, are an urgent call for action by all countries to end poverty and other deprivations to improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change.
The LGA, which represents councils in England and Wales, said that if they are to be attained, then local action will play a key role with councils at the centre of any strategy. This joint guide with UKSSD therefore reinforces the need for coherent decision-making within all levels of government to ensure that efforts today lead to better outcomes tomorrow.
Councils are at the front of meeting the challenges that the SDGs seek to resolve and it is therefore essential that the Government recognises that engaging with the goals cannot purely be an internal exercise.
Get your copy
Examples of councils that have been working towards the SDGs include:
- Newcastle City Council made a political commitment to mainstream the SDGs in its policies, activity and programmes in 2019. Working closely with local organisation, it has recently embedded the SDGs in the its new workplan for the city’s Wellbeing for Life Board to improve the lives of communities.
- Bristol City Council launched the UK’s first city review on the SDGs in 2019 and is now embedding the Goals in its One City Plan to work with stakeholders across the city towards a more coherent plan for the future.
- The 2030hub in Liverpool organised a series of events across the Liverpool City Region which sought to explain the SDGs and their value to people and organisations. Liverpool City Council has commissioned the 2030hub to independently map the strategic policies and monitoring indicators of the Mayor’s 2018 Inclusive Growth Plan against the targets and indicators of the SDGs.
Despite facing enormous pressures and sustained funding cuts, councils have maintained the provision of essential services for their communities and continue to look ahead at how they can work closely with the Government to achieve its targets, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
As councils across the country continue to lead their communities through the coronavirus pandemic, it is vitally important that they have the resources and support to lead them through the recovery and continue to fight against climate change.