Transforming Our World: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
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About this Course
In this course, learn all about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In September 2015, the world’s leaders signed on to this new agenda, answering the call for a global vision of important social, economic and environmental needs to support the planet and its people in long-term prosperity and survival. The goals include a set of key areas of focus, as well as detailed targets to put our planet on track for this continuing sustainability through 2030 and beyond.
Sustainable development is not just a problem for future generations. It is a shared global responsibility now and forevermore to be thoughtful stewards of our entire world – from developed countries to developing countries, from high-level policymakers to individuals.
This course is for:
- Anyone new to the concept of the Sustainable Development Goals who wants to understand what they are, why they’re important and how to achieve them
- Graduate students and advanced undergraduate students interested in the key concepts and practices of sustainability
- Policymakers and sustainable development practitioners looking for a concise overview of the goals and their targets
- Private-sector actors, such as those who work in corporate sustainability and responsibility or at universities – who want their work to be more sustainable and align with global progress
Instructors
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world-renowned professor of economics, leader in sustainable development, senior UN advisor, bestselling author, and syndicated columnist whose monthly newspaper columns appear in more than 100 countries. He is the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership. He has twice been named among Time Magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders. He was called by the New York Times, “probably the most important economist in the world,” and by Time Magazine “the world’s best known economist.” A recent survey by The Economist Magazine ranked Professor Sachs as among the world’s three most influential living economists of the past decade. Professor Sachs is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on economic development, global macroeconomics, and the fight against poverty. His work on ending poverty, overcoming macroeconomic instability, promoting economic growth, fighting hunger and disease, and promoting sustainable environmental practices, has taken him to more than 125 countries with more than 90 percent of the world’s population. For more than thirty years he has advised dozens of heads of state and governments on economic strategy, in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. He was among the outside advisors to Pope John Paul II on the encyclical Centesimus Annus and in recent years has worked closely with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences on the issues of sustainable development. Professor Sachs is the Director of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) which launched in 2012, bringing together scientific and technical expertise from academia, civil society and the private sector to support and promote sustainable development problem-solving at local, national and global levels. The design and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is an important part of its work.
