September 2015: governments of the 139 UN Member Countries sign the 2030 Agenda. 15 years to achieve 17 goals that focus on sustainable development.
The agenda, which includes 17 goals and 169 intermediate targets to be achieved, aims to improve the condition of the planet and its people. An ambitious project, which is expected to be completed in 2030. Will this actually be the case?
The 17 goals of Agenda 2030
What are the 17 goals of Agenda 2030?
- Defeating poverty
- Defeating hunger
- Ensuring the right to health and well-being
- Ensuring the right to quality education
- Achieving gender equality
- Ensuring access to clean water for all
- Producing clean and sustainable energy
- Supporting sustained economic growth
- Supporting business, innovation, infrastructure
- Reducing inequality
- Support sustainable cities and communities
- Supporting responsible consumption and production
- Fighting climate change
- Protecting marine life
- Protecting life on land
- Supporting peace, justice and strong institutions
- Encouraging international collaboration to achieve the goals
The development goals cover a range of important issues such as combating poverty and hunger, among the worst scourges of these modern times. There is also a growing focus on the environment and sustainability. Crucial issues such as clean and sustainable energy and combating climate change are being addressed.
All UN member countries are committed to meeting the goals and to fighting for and promoting environmental, social, and economic change. It is no longer possible to look the other way. But where do we stand?
The critical issues of Agenda 2030
The countdown to 2030 has begun. It is only 8 years away, and some of the goals still seem far off. On some points progress has been made, while on others we are still stuck. On others, steps backward have been taken.
On balance, UN member countries are moving extremely slowly; achieving all the goals seems, to date, impossible.
The reason is simple: one has to deal with developing countries that do not have the same possibilities as developed countries. There are different realities, with different cultures and with different problems. It is impossible not to take this into account when thinking about the way forward between now and 2030.
A few years after the approval of the new 2030 Agenda, the difficulties are more evident than ever. In some countries, economic and social vulnerabilities are an obstacle that must be dealt with, and certainly not the only one.
To date, the lack of a shared strategy is evident; this requires deep reflection on what to do to achieve these goals by 2030.
There are many social and environmental challenges ahead, and so far, little progress has been made. In recent years, the world has been faced with a number of problems to deal with, including a health crisis that is inextricably linked to yet another economic and social crisis. All this has made the work of closing the gap between countries, world hunger and poverty even more complex.
On the sustainable energy side, there are also quite a few problems. Some developing countries are still extremely tied to fossil fuels such as, for example, coal. This slows down the process toward the use of renewable and sustainable energy sources.
Therefore, to address these difficulties, the UN has identified 5 points on which it is important to act. The share of renewable energy must be increased, access to modern energy services that are both reliable and affordable must be ensured. In addition, energy efficiency must be improved and research into clean energy-related technologies must be supported. All of this, of course, must be assisted by the construction of dedicated infrastructure.
Italy, clean energy and the 2030 Agenda
What is Italy doing to achieve the goals identified by the UN? The question requires further investigation to understand whether, indeed, we can arrive at 2030 with something concrete on our hands.
In our country, the MiSE has published a National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan; it is being continuously updated and aims to identify Italian targets to be achieved by 2030.
Italy is committed to increasing energy production from renewable sources to 30 percent. Improvements will also be made in the transportation and electricity sectors, where green energy sources will be significantly increased.
As for greenhouse gas emission reductions, the goal is to achieve -43% by 2030. By 2025, on the other hand, Italy’s farewell to coal should arrive.
What is going to happen? Hard to say, but certainly if work is done on implementing new energy sources, the goals seem closer. In our country, the interest in solar, hydro and mini-hydro power has been there for a few years; not stopping incentives and funding is fundamental.
