The UN's Sustainable Development Goals
The United Nations adopted the '2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development' in 2015, at the centre of which are 17 Sustainable Development Goals which are an urgent call for action for peace and prosperity for people and the planet. Adopted by all the UN's member states, the SDGs recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand in hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. (See the UN's explanation of its SDGs.)
How the University's work fits with the SDGs
The research, teaching and corporate activity that takes place here at Brunel – and which engages individuals, communities, societies and economies – helps to achieve, evaluate and improve the UN SDGs.
We have introduced Strategic Challenge Areas, and are building on our strengths to enable us to pioneer world-leading research, and to accelerate and maximise our abilities to address society’s most pressing challenges, in collaboration with partners locally and from across the globe. Our strategy aligns with UK Research and Innovation's strategy placing the UK at the forefront of the green industrial revolution and committing to a net zero economy, responding to climate change and helping all of us to live more sustainably.
We work through developing innovative materials to make renewable energy systems last longer, through reducing gender inequality in India, through being the 15th best university in the world for our responsible consumption and production (Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2021), through establishing scholarships for refugees, and much more. Together, our actions aim to make the world the place it ought to be, for us, for the generations after us and for the planet they deserve.
Exploring the SDGs
We have grouped the 17 SDGs into three broad categories – Biosphere, Economy and Society – in line with a model introduced by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and with SDG 17, 'Partnership for the goals', at the top. Use the pages below to explore these categories, and the events we put on about our SDG-related work.
The cake model from Stockholm University's Stockholm Resilience Centre