This article is written by Alexandra Hiniker, Director of the Sustainability Initiative, Carnegie Mellon University.

  • The problem: The 2030 Agenda recognises the critical role that academia plays in helping to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, but does not specifically lay out how post-secondary institutions can contribute.
  • Why it matters: Through education, research and operations, universities both contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals and benefit from engaging in myriad ways.
  • The solution: Use the guides I created with the United Nations Foundation as a starting point to determine how your post-secondary institution can benefit from engaging with this ambitious global agenda.

In 2015, world leaders agreed to the Sustainable Development Goals after years of consultations with millions of people around the world. While many people associate sustainability with environmental actions, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals look at the broader topics covered by sustainability, from environmental protection to social equity to economic justice, with equity at the heart of the agenda.

Countries agreed to the goals through the United Nations resolution on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes references to academia but does not prescribe how post-secondary institutions should engage.

Universities are uniquely positioned to advance this ambitious global agenda through education, research and operations, so identifying ways for them to contribute is critical to making the world more sustainable for all.

Additionally, the 17 goals, 169 targets and 231 indicators can be totally overwhelming for a university just starting to engage with the Sustainable Development Goals, and many people do not think the framework is relevant to their work because they associate the term sustainability primarily with environmental actions.

However, universities are uniquely positioned to advance this ambitious global agenda through education, research and operations, so identifying ways for them to contribute is critical to making the world more sustainable for all. What is exciting to me about working on this at the university level is that we have an opportunity to go beyond questions about how the operations meet the goals to start exploring what this means for our educational and research undertakings. It also means that things can become very unwieldy very quickly.

How to do it

Recognising that there is no single path and universities all have different reasons for engaging, I partnered with the United Nations Foundation to create a series of short guides for American universities to get started on the Sustainable Development Goals, but the advice can be applied to universities around the world.

The guides are informed by my previous experience leading New York City’s Sustainable Development Goals programme, and my current role as director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Sustainability Initiative. When I created the concept of the Voluntary Local Review for New York City to report on their progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals in 2018, I sparked a global movement for cities to engage with this international framework, and now over 300 local governments have committed to conducting their own reviews. Here are my recommendations for aligning city strategies with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Since becoming Director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Sustainability Initiative in 2020, I continue to build the movement by developing ways for post-secondary institutions to contribute to the goals. In 2020, Carnegie Mellon became the first in the world to publish a Voluntary University Review, in 2021 we transitioned to an online, interactive reporting format, and just last fall we opened the Sustainability Studio for our community to connect and find inspiration to incorporate sustainability into their work.

However, many other universities are adopting the goals in ways that serve their constituents and what works for Carnegie Mellon University may not work for an institution with a different set of expertise, priorities and administration.

Three simple steps

The four short guides I created are intended to help universities get started with the process. The first guide poses three key questions and provides resources for universities to answer them. I then developed short guides focusing specifically on education, research and operations with different options for institutions to take action.

  1. Why and for whom are we choosing to engage with the Sustainable Development Goals? Determine the purpose of engaging with the framework, including identifying key stakeholders and how they will benefit from engaging with this framework.

  2. Where and how do we already work towards the Sustainable Development Goals? Review your institution’s courses, research and operations to determine where there are existing activities as well as opportunities to do more.

  3. What is our plan to implement the Sustainable Development Goals at our university? Based on these findings, develop and implement programming for your institution to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Every institution can benefit from engaging with the Sustainable Development Goals, but you need to determine for whom, why and how you want to do so. Breaking your approach down into smaller, manageable steps can also make the task much less daunting. By answering the three key questions in the guide and implementing the education, research and operations plan that suits your particular context, you will find the way that works best for you.

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