The Inaugural UK SDG Summit

Here's an extract from the report of the inaugural UK SDGs Summit that was held last autumn.

The Inaugural UK SDGs Summit

The new United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which came into effect on 1 January 2016, are a landmark agreement by all countries on a blueprint for a better future.   The inaugural UK SDG Summit was the UK's first high-level multi-stakeholder forum to advance national implementation of the SDGs.  The Summit, convened on 7 September 2016 in London, brought together 150 leaders and decision-makers from government, business, civil society and academia to explore what the SDGs mean for the UK, showcase existing commitments and implementation efforts, and identify what actions need to be taken collaboratively and by different sectors to achieve the goals.

Key discussion points

The SDGs provide a fundamentally new approach for addressing the social, environmental and governance challenges facing the UK and the world.  The SDGs framework provides a new way of articulating what a prosperous future looks like which is positive, comprehensive, tangible, measurable and relevant to the UK both domestically and internationally.  As such it provides opportunities for new conversations, partnerships and actions to help realise such a future.  We need to build on the growing momentum for action on the SDGs across all sectors.  There is already broad support and significant momentum for the SDGs from across all sectors in the UK, with a number of companies and other organisations already demonstrating the agenda’s practical uses and benefits.  This momentum was further demonstrated by the four sectoral statements of support for the SDGs launched at the Summit.

A way forward

Important starting points for taking implementation of the SDGs forward in the UK include:

• Using the SDGs to build a vision for the UK's future and a plan to get us there.
• Mapping how the UK is already performing against the SDGs – particularly to identify areas where we are not doing well.
• Mapping existing activities from across sectors which are contributing to the SDGs, on which to build.
• Developing the economic and strategic case to quantify a range of strategic, social, environmental and economic benefits in working towards and achieving the SDGs.
• Developing tools, case studies and other resources to assist UK organisations in engaging with and contributing to the SDGs.

Collaboration and partnerships are critical to addressing the complexity of the SDGs.  Although partnerships can be challenging to build and maintain, they provide a range of opportunities.  To help forge strong partnerships, the SDGs should be used as a common starting point for discussion.  Communication and awareness raising is key to ensuring meaningful impact towards the SDGs.  It is important that a wide range of actors are engaged in addressing them – including government at all levels, business, civil society, academia and the broader public.  Currently the SDGs are neither well known nor well understood in the UK, so raising broad awareness of them is important.  To engage these actors, a positive vision of the SDGs should be articulated and an emotional connection built through stories showing what the agenda means for people’s own lives. ...

Interesting, you might say; promising even.  But why didn't I know about this meeting, you might add – or, if you're that way inclined: why wasn't I invited!

Well, that's because the summit took place in Sydney, and was about Australia.  This is the report.  We're still waiting for our summit to be even proposed, let alone held.