The Power of Sustainable Business
Tom Berry, Head of Sustainability, EMEA at Kimberly-Clark discusses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda
This article originally published on 2degrees
In 2000, the United Nations created the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), global targets to reduce poverty and improve the lives of adults and children over the next 15 years. Progress towards these goals has been uneven. Some targets, like those around increasing access to improved sources of water and dramatically reducing malaria mortality rates globally, have been met. Others have not. A major target of the MDGs was to halve the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation.
However, as we approach the deadline, one in three people globally – some 2.4 billion people - still do not use or have access to improved sanitation. In September 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - that aim to build on the progress achieved under the MDGs - were adopted at the United Nations General Assembly. The debate focused on how we can find ways to tackle the root causes of poverty and find answers to the world’s most difficult questions, like how to provide adequate and equitable sanitation for all by 2030.
