Inequality can only be reduced if policies apply universal principles giving due
attention to the requirements of underprivileged and ostracized persons.
Goal 11: Make Cities Inclusive, Safe, Resilient, and Sustainable
Villages grow into towns and cities by becoming production centres, commercial,
and cultural hubs for ideas, science, social development and so much more. At their
apogee, cities have empowered people to progress socially and economically.
However, many challenges hinder maintaining cities on the way to prosperity
through job creation, without stressing land and resources. Typical urban challenges
comprise congestion, a scarcity of funds to offer basic services, a lack of proper
housing and deteriorating or insufficient infrastructure.
Cities can face the challenges in several ways that permit them to continue to
flourish and blossom, while refining resource use and decreasing pollution and
poverty. The future we wish for, most probably, includes cities with opportunities
for everybody, with access to all the basic infrastructure services, as a minimum.
Goal 12: Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns
Sustainable consumption and production tries to stimulate resource and energy
efficiency, allow access to basic services and encourage sustainable infrastructure
services, create green and reasonable jobs and generating a better standard of living
for everybody. Its realization helps to accomplish overall development plans, to
decrease economic, environmental and social costs in the future, to reinforce economic competitiveness and to diminish poverty.
Sustainable consumption and production tries to “do more and better with less”,
to increase net welfare benefits from economic activities by decreasing resource use,
deterioration and pollution along the entire lifecycle, while improving the quality of
life. Overall, different stakeholders are concerned, comprising, inter alia, policy
makers, researchers, scientists, business, retailers, media, consumers, and development cooperation agencies.
The different actors – from producer to final consumer – functioning in the supply
chain, should also use a systemic approach and cooperate. Consumers need to be
engaged through raising their awareness, by educating on sustainable consumption
and lifestyles, providing them with sufficient information through standards and
labelling practices and informing them on sustainable public procurement rules, etc.
Goal 13: Take Urgent Action to Combat Climate Change and Its Impacts
Climate has been changing over millennia. However, during the last few decades,
the change has been more visible in its extreme impacts – hurricanes, droughts or
floods – affecting most countries and their economies, and affecting infrastructure
assets or services negatively, for more years to come.
People are feeling the impacts and undergoing the profound effects of climate
change, which comprise modified weather patterns, sea levels rising more quickly,
and more weather events with sharper extremes. Greenhouse gas emissions arising
from human activities seem to be the driving force behind climate change and, do not
show any signs to decrease. If there is no corrective action, daily temperatures are
4.5 Sustainable Development Goals
129
attention to the requirements of underprivileged and ostracized persons.
Goal 11: Make Cities Inclusive, Safe, Resilient, and Sustainable
Villages grow into towns and cities by becoming production centres, commercial,
and cultural hubs for ideas, science, social development and so much more. At their
apogee, cities have empowered people to progress socially and economically.
However, many challenges hinder maintaining cities on the way to prosperity
through job creation, without stressing land and resources. Typical urban challenges
comprise congestion, a scarcity of funds to offer basic services, a lack of proper
housing and deteriorating or insufficient infrastructure.
Cities can face the challenges in several ways that permit them to continue to
flourish and blossom, while refining resource use and decreasing pollution and
poverty. The future we wish for, most probably, includes cities with opportunities
for everybody, with access to all the basic infrastructure services, as a minimum.
Goal 12: Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns
Sustainable consumption and production tries to stimulate resource and energy
efficiency, allow access to basic services and encourage sustainable infrastructure
services, create green and reasonable jobs and generating a better standard of living
for everybody. Its realization helps to accomplish overall development plans, to
decrease economic, environmental and social costs in the future, to reinforce economic competitiveness and to diminish poverty.
Sustainable consumption and production tries to “do more and better with less”,
to increase net welfare benefits from economic activities by decreasing resource use,
deterioration and pollution along the entire lifecycle, while improving the quality of
life. Overall, different stakeholders are concerned, comprising, inter alia, policy
makers, researchers, scientists, business, retailers, media, consumers, and development cooperation agencies.
The different actors – from producer to final consumer – functioning in the supply
chain, should also use a systemic approach and cooperate. Consumers need to be
engaged through raising their awareness, by educating on sustainable consumption
and lifestyles, providing them with sufficient information through standards and
labelling practices and informing them on sustainable public procurement rules, etc.
Goal 13: Take Urgent Action to Combat Climate Change and Its Impacts
Climate has been changing over millennia. However, during the last few decades,
the change has been more visible in its extreme impacts – hurricanes, droughts or
floods – affecting most countries and their economies, and affecting infrastructure
assets or services negatively, for more years to come.
People are feeling the impacts and undergoing the profound effects of climate
change, which comprise modified weather patterns, sea levels rising more quickly,
and more weather events with sharper extremes. Greenhouse gas emissions arising
from human activities seem to be the driving force behind climate change and, do not
show any signs to decrease. If there is no corrective action, daily temperatures are
4.5 Sustainable Development Goals
129