An Ecological Vision with Social Responsibility …
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dominated the debate about sustainability over the last years. Second, we outline
the related themes of Higher Education and Sustainable Development; this helped
us to set the context and also because the paper focuses a project on developed in a
university, so it is important to know the significant relationship between the themes
Sustainable Development and Higher Education.
2.1 UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, 193 United Nations members had the opportunity to adopt the new sustainable development agenda—The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—and
reach a global agreement, which determines the global course of action to end
poverty, promote prosperity and well-being for all, protect the environment, and
address climate change. The United Nations (UN) has worked with governments,
society and other partners and the actions were taken at this time resulted in the
17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets (United Nations, Brazil
2019).
Thus was a historic opportunity to bring the countries together and the global
population to decide ways to improve lives everywhere. This agenda was discussed
at the UN General Assembly, during the Sustainable Development Summit, and
reflects challenges linked with the result of “Rio + 20—the UN Conference on
Sustainable Development”, held in 2012 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) (United Nations,
Brazil 2019).
Briefly, the 17 SDGs are: (1) No Poverty; (2) Zero Hunger; (3) Good Health and
Well-being; (4) Quality Education; (5) Gender Equality; (6) Clean Water and Sanitation; (7) Affordable and Clean Energy; (8) Decent Work and Economic Growth;
(9) Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; (10) Reduced Inequality; (11) Sustainable Cities and Communities; (12) Responsible Consumption and Production; (13)
Climate Action; (14) Life Below Water; (15) Life on Land; (16) Peace and Justice
Strong Institutions; and (17) Partnerships for the Goals.
As indicated in the introduction, this paper presents the VERSAS Project
which emerged as the result of postdoctoral research at MMU, where one of the
authors studies systemic approaches to environmental public policies linked to
ways to achieve the UN SDGs. The Public Policy—The Municipality Green Blue
Programme—is related to 12 SDGs: Zero Hunger (2), Good Health and Well-being
(3), Quality Education (4), Clean Water and Sanitation (6), Affordable and Clean
Energy (7), Sustainable Cities and Communities (11), Responsible Consumption
and Production (12), Climate Action (13), Life Below Water (14), Life on Land (15),
Peace and Justice Strong Institutions (16) and Partnerships to achieve the Goal (17).
During the first stage, the VERSAS Project is related to two SDGs: Goal 12:
Responsible Consumption and Production and Goal 15: Life on Land. Thus, next,
we will describe how we can relate to the local university project these SDGs.
The 12th Goal establishes sustainable consumption and production which is about
promoting resource and energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and providing
567
dominated the debate about sustainability over the last years. Second, we outline
the related themes of Higher Education and Sustainable Development; this helped
us to set the context and also because the paper focuses a project on developed in a
university, so it is important to know the significant relationship between the themes
Sustainable Development and Higher Education.
2.1 UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, 193 United Nations members had the opportunity to adopt the new sustainable development agenda—The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—and
reach a global agreement, which determines the global course of action to end
poverty, promote prosperity and well-being for all, protect the environment, and
address climate change. The United Nations (UN) has worked with governments,
society and other partners and the actions were taken at this time resulted in the
17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets (United Nations, Brazil
2019).
Thus was a historic opportunity to bring the countries together and the global
population to decide ways to improve lives everywhere. This agenda was discussed
at the UN General Assembly, during the Sustainable Development Summit, and
reflects challenges linked with the result of “Rio + 20—the UN Conference on
Sustainable Development”, held in 2012 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) (United Nations,
Brazil 2019).
Briefly, the 17 SDGs are: (1) No Poverty; (2) Zero Hunger; (3) Good Health and
Well-being; (4) Quality Education; (5) Gender Equality; (6) Clean Water and Sanitation; (7) Affordable and Clean Energy; (8) Decent Work and Economic Growth;
(9) Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; (10) Reduced Inequality; (11) Sustainable Cities and Communities; (12) Responsible Consumption and Production; (13)
Climate Action; (14) Life Below Water; (15) Life on Land; (16) Peace and Justice
Strong Institutions; and (17) Partnerships for the Goals.
As indicated in the introduction, this paper presents the VERSAS Project
which emerged as the result of postdoctoral research at MMU, where one of the
authors studies systemic approaches to environmental public policies linked to
ways to achieve the UN SDGs. The Public Policy—The Municipality Green Blue
Programme—is related to 12 SDGs: Zero Hunger (2), Good Health and Well-being
(3), Quality Education (4), Clean Water and Sanitation (6), Affordable and Clean
Energy (7), Sustainable Cities and Communities (11), Responsible Consumption
and Production (12), Climate Action (13), Life Below Water (14), Life on Land (15),
Peace and Justice Strong Institutions (16) and Partnerships to achieve the Goal (17).
During the first stage, the VERSAS Project is related to two SDGs: Goal 12:
Responsible Consumption and Production and Goal 15: Life on Land. Thus, next,
we will describe how we can relate to the local university project these SDGs.
The 12th Goal establishes sustainable consumption and production which is about
promoting resource and energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and providing