SDGs in Action app

Learn about the 17 SDGs, get news on your favourite goals, find out  what you can do to achieve them, create your own events and invite others to join you in sustainable actions and events.

download for:   IOS   or  Android

It is fantastic that more and more initiatives around sustainability are being developed to make the world more livable, sustainable and safer. Much has been achieved since all 193 UN member states embraced the seventeen sustainable development goals in 2015. Each member is determined to achieve the 2030 goals.

In the meantime, many initiatives and programs have been set up to achieve the goals. An example of this is the United 4 Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) program of the UN. In episode eleven of the episode series "Do Sustainable", ambassador Olaf Muller explained how this program helps cities and municipalities to achieve these goals on the basis of practical examples.

The regional energy transition, the new way of working and digitization have been brought together since the corona crisis. Stimulated cooperation has developed between the public and private sectors. Where previously the discussion "electric charging at the office or at home" took place, the new "vehicle to the Grid" principle is a solution. New electric cars create an opportunity to get more involved in the energy supply of your home and office with a vehicle.

During the largest online real estate event in the Netherlands Real Estate building Future Proof, a number of experts discussed the theme of "involving charging infrastructure in real estate and everything that comes with it, such as unauthorized digital access" in a round table discussion.

The establishment of the SDG House Network gives concrete substance to SDG 17 - Partnership for the Goals - in which the United Nations calls for cooperation on the goals.

This is exactly what the SDG House Network aims for: to inspire and activate companies, knowledge institutions, governments and citizens to accelerate the achievement of the sustainable goals in the Netherlands, by sharing knowledge and combining innovative power.

The nine initiators of the SDG House Network are organizations and business locations that are themselves sustainable "hotspots" at a local level that promote collaboration, knowledge exchange and entrepreneurship for sustainable development. With the network, the initiators aim to increase the scale and impact of their activities. The SDG House Network has the ambition to grow into an international network of locations, in which we work closely with SDG Netherlands.

Walk the talk

Immediately after launch, the SDG House Network will start working on projects that directly contribute to the realization of the SDGs. One of these is a trainee program to introduce 500 young people and to gain experience in sustainable entrepreneurship and to train them to become SDG professionals. Another initiative in which SDG House Network will collaborate with the Chamber of Commerce is KvK Business Challenge, an online innovation platform that brings large companies into contact with SMEs to develop innovative new business together.

Of the thousands lime trees on top of Maastricht A2 tunnel, none have died yet during the latest dry period. This is because sensors constantly monitor the growth and flowering of the trees.

Three sensors are located at the roots of the trees and measure three things: minerals, oxygen and moisture content. On the computer you can see whether action must be taken. Last year the trees were watered 22 times: each linden tree received an average of 200 to 300 liters. This year too, with its long, hot and dry summer, watering was much more frequent than expected.

source: 1Limburg, September 15 2019

This year was a more important criterion of the Amsterdam Business Awards sustainability. In addition to the performance of the Earth Anthem at the gala, a film was also made especially for the Awards with Secretary General OiER (UN part) and director of United Smart Cities, USC, Kari Aina Eik.

The vision of United Smart Cities is to encourage innovative collaborations and to work with local / regional governments, industry, financial institutions and the United Nations to build influential, transformational and scalable solutions for cities. Towards a livable and sustainable metropolitan region of Amsterdam. For more information regarding Edwin Bijl projects: edwin.bijl@unitedsmartcities.org or Olaf Müller: olaf.muller@unitedsmartcities.org

How can cities around the world become smart and sustainable? In order to provide a valid answer, UNECE and OiER developed the global platform United Smart Cities (USC).

In 2016, UNECE initiated the worldwide initiative United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). 16 UN agencies are involved in this. Using 92 performance indicators (Key Performance Indicators, KPIs, for smart sustainable cities), cities are evaluated according to their performance and their potential.

Forbes presents an exclusive list of five project cities that were examined by UNECE within the USC framework. What is striking is that the cities listed are not the ones that are typically famous worldwide, but rather are cities from developing countries, emerging markets and transition countries.