Charities urged to review goals within SDG agenda

Charities have been urged to consider how their individual goals sit within the broader UN Sustainable Development Goals post-Brexit.

A new report has revealed why the UK should place the UN SDGs at the heart of its Brexit strategy to galvanise support for a positive vision of the country.

The report, Measuring Up, comes from the UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD), the network for organisations working to advance sustainable development and the delivery of the SDGs in the UK.

Measuring Up is the result of a multi-stakeholder process to show the UK’s current performance against the SDGs, the opportunities and challenges ahead, and top line recommendations for achieving the SDG targets. More than 100 organisations have taken part, including businesses, charities, academia, trade unions, professional associations and government agencies.

The report has urged charities to consider how their overall goals sit within the agenda and where they might be able to amplify results by working with partners across different targets.

“Meeting the SDGs gives us the best chance to deliver on promises of fairness and equality in the UK after we leave the European Union," ICAEW chief executive and UKSSD partner Michael Izza said.

“These commitments must not be seen as a burden, but as a way of addressing some of the most urgent issues we face. This is a positive vision of a UK with a future very few could argue with.

“The UK has already made good progress towards some of the SDGs – but we are in danger of slipping behind in other areas. By looking at UK performance across every aspect of our country, the need for cross-sector action becomes clear. Today we are calling for a united, national effort to meet all our targets by 2030.”