CIVITAS welcomes adoption of UN Sustainable Development Goals
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were adopted by more than 150 world leaders at a UN summit on 25 September 2015. Building on the eight anti-poverty Millenium Development Goals, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, one of which is a dedicated goal for sustainable urban development.
Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities aims to deal with the rapidly expanding urban population in the developing world and the economic, environmental, and social impacts that this will have. Among the ways in which these impacts will be mitigated are investments in public transport, and improving urban planning and management in a way that is participatory and inclusive.
Targets for Goal 11 include access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport for all (with special attention for vulnerable groups such as women, children, people with disabilities, and the elderly); reducing environmental impacts of cities such as air pollution; providing universal access to safe, inclusive, and accessible public spaces; and supporting positive economic, environmental, and social links between urban, peri-urban, and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning.
However, these methods are also needed to improve the sustainability of urban mobility in the developed world, including in Europe where road transport is responsible for 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions and traffic congestion costs one percent of Europe’s GDP annually. This is the work in which CIVITAS is engaged, supporting European local governments and citizens to make their transport and mobility cleaner and better.
CIVITAS welcomes the international recognition for the role that clean transport and inclusive urban planning can play in making cities more sustainable, and looks forward to playing its part in sharing knowledge and best practices between Europe and the rest of the world.
For more information on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, visit www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
